Guide to Eurostat culture statistics — 2018 edition - Products Manuals and Guidelines

This publication provides an overview of the methodology used in the different areas of Eurostat culture statistics available from harmonised EU data collections.
These statistics cover areas such as cultural employment, enterprises in cultural sectors, international trade in cultural goods and services, cultural participation, households’ cultural expenditure, etc. They are publicly available in Eurostat’s database (Eurobase) and analysed in several Statistics explained articles and Eurostat ‘culture statistics’ pocketbooks (the third edition of which was published in 2016).
The methodology used in compiling the statistics is based on the ESSnet-Culture final report, which was published in 2012. Since then, slight adjustments have been made to the statistical scope of ‘culture’ and more EU harmonised surveys have been searched for culture-related data.
The aim of this guide is to summarise the methodology used for culture statistics, as applied in 2018. The definitions and methods presented here refer primarily to the general methodology used for the various EU surveys, but some (e.g. lists of ‘cultural codes’ in different classifications, a matrix used for cultural employment and cultural aggregates compiled in several data collections) are specific to culture statistics.