New analysis of European data finds growth in culture spending across Europe is driven by the countries in the East of the continent, which doubled their culture spend.
Local government funding for culture is a lower budget priority in the UK than in almost any other country in Europe, new data suggests.
A study of recently-released European Union (EU) data shows that total local authority spending in the UK constituted just 0.1% of the country’s GDP in 2017.
By comparison, each of the 30 other European countries analysed – apart from Ireland, Greece and Cyprus – recorded higher proportions, up to a high of 0.7% in Latvia.
The data also reveals the UK was one of the few countries in which total local government spending on culture was outstripped by central government funding.
The analysis was conducted by the Budapest Observatory, which provides information about how culture is made and developed in “east-central European countries”.
It comes months after the EU announced plans to double its culture budget for its next funding round – an increase of €2.8bn for the period from 2021 to 2027.