Abstract

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, disseminates a broad range of statistics on culture, combining data from several official EU data collections. This article describes the origins of this venture and its main achievements. It presents the main products that are disseminated and the statistical areas related to each cultural field. Some of the latest evidences in terms of employment, business characteristics and international trade in the cultural sectors are presented. EU culture statistics rely on a consolidated framework, which is based on concepts and definitions shared among EU Member States. Culture statistics are disseminated following international classifications in the different statistical areas and under the legal basis of EU data collections in the social and business domains. This framework supports the general mission of Eurostat, which is providing high-quality statistics and data on Europe