In 2022, Bulgaria had the lowest number of cultural enterprises in the EU, Eurostat reported on Tuesday. Across the EU, there were 2.03 million cultural enterprises, representing 6.3% of all businesses within the business economy (industry, construction and market services). These generated EUR 199 billion in value added, which was 2.0% of the total value added in the business economy, BTA reported.
Cultural enterprises accounted for less than 5% of all businesses in six EU countries: Bulgaria and Slovakia (both 3.1%), Poland (4.3%), Greece (4.7%) and Denmark and Romania (both 4.8%). In contrast, the highest share of cultural enterprises in the national business economies was registered in the Netherlands (11.0%), Sweden (10.8%), Slovenia and Lithuania (both 8.9%) and Austria (8.1%).
Over one-quarter of the cultural enterprises in the EU were engaged in creative, arts and entertainment activities (27.4%). Meanwhile, publishing (14.9%) and architecture (14.6%) accounted for the largest shares of the total value added generated by the EU’s cultural sector.
A breakdown analysis by size class shows the importance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the sector. In 2022 in the EU, 78% of people working in creative, arts and entertainment enterprises, were employed in micro enterprises, 11.6% in small enterprises, and 6.5% in medium enterprises. Only 3.9% of these professionals were employed in large enterprises.