Province-by-province growth or decline in cultural economies (including an analysis of the territories)
Long-term analysis (2010 to 2022) and more recent changes (2019 to 2022)
Today’s post analyzes changes in the Gross Domestic Product of the arts, culture, and heritage in each province and territory, using recently released data for 2022. I have adjusted the GDP estimates for inflation and population growth (which is referred to as “real, per capita changes”). The post is an update to a year-old one regarding changes in provincial and territorial cultural economies back in 2021.
Next week, I’ll examine the data on cultural jobs, based on the same dataset.
Across Canada, provincial and territorial cultural economies have not kept up with inflation and population growth between 2010 and 2022, with two exceptions. Similarly, only one jurisdiction’s cultural economy has recovered beyond pre-pandemic levels.
The primary data source is Statistics Canada’s Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2022, which was released on June 3. The economic measurement of the arts, culture, and heritage includes the following (in descending order of GDP impact in Canada):
audiovisual and interactive media
visual and applied arts
government-owned cultural institutions (which are excluded from other areas)
written and published works
live performance
heritage and libraries
sound recording
education and training
Additional notes regarding the dataset are provided at the end of this post.