Canadian cultural products generate over $130 billion in revenues
Analysis of the cultural economy in 2024: jobs, revenues, and direct impact on GDP
Today, I examine key economic indicators in 2024 for the arts, culture, and heritage in Canada, plus an analysis of changes since 2012. Three indicators are analyzed:
Output (essentially an estimate of total revenues)
Direct impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Jobs
The analysis is based on Canada-wide statistics from Statistics Canada’s National Culture Indicators for 2024. In the 2024 dataset, there have been notable revisions for many indicators for 2021 through 2023, including film and video, the performing arts, and book publishing. The provincial dataset is generally one year behind, and I analyzed provincial data on the core of the cultural sector in 2023 in three articles in June.: GDP (overall) , GDP by area of culture, and cultural jobs (overall).
The article examines broad statistics: those for all cultural products (which I also call “arts, culture, and heritage products”). These statistics include all nine domains captured in Statistics Canada’s economic data for culture:
Live performance
Visual and applied arts
Written and published works
Sound recording
Audiovisual and interactive media
Heritage and libraries
Governance, funding, and professional support (a very large domain, which includes all government-run cultural institutions, as well as government financing and association support)
Education and training
Multi domain
A description of each area is provided at the end of this article.
Similar to my analyses last year, this article is the first in a series of deep dives into the economy of arts, culture, and heritage products in Canada, with subsequent articles related to:
An approximation of “the arts” (separate from broader cultural and heritage elements, to the extent possible)
Components of the arts, including film and video, performing arts, visual arts, book publishing, and sound recording.
To add depth and context, I analyze the historical estimates of revenues and GDP in three ways: 1) as published by Statistics Canada (“nominal” statistics); 2) adjusted for inflation (“real changes”); and 3) adjusted for both inflation and population growth (“real per capita changes”).
Analysis of cultural products
The estimates relate to cultural products, i.e., the production of culture goods and services from establishments in both cultural and non-cultural industries. The product-based estimates are typically smaller than estimates based on the industry perspective. I am focusing on the product-based estimates simply because they are available much more quickly than the industry-based estimates, which likely won’t be available for close to another year.
Because the estimates relate to all cultural products (produced within and outside the cultural sector), the analysis differs from my recent provincial analysis, which focused on the core of the cultural sector: the production of cultural goods and services by cultural organizations, businesses, and individuals.
Over $130 billion in revenues for cultural products in 2024
Basic facts: Current estimates and nominal changes since 2012
The “nominal” values in this section have not been adjusted for other important economic factors, such as inflation or changes in the population.