Research

A study comparing the cultural performance of different nations has named The Netherlands the most artistic country in Europe, beating the UK into second. 

The study, conducted by Design Bundles, scored nations on five factors: number of museums, arts institutions and arts students, government spending on culture and total cultural export.

The UK scored highly for its popular museums and total cultural exports but had the lowest score for government funding, which compared spending on culture against GDP.

Latvia, the nation with the highest concentration of arts institutions, placed third and Estonia, the nation with the highest government spending against GDP, fourth.

"Countries such as Italy and France, which have their own amazing artistic heritage, are outranked by nations such as Latvia and Estonia, which have committed more resources comparatively to art funding and education,” a Design Bundles spokesperson explained."

The UK's creative and cultural industries generated £150.4bn in 2019, according to new data.

DCMS figures show the industries' value grew by 8.3% in the year from 2018, adding £11.5bn to the economy before the pandemic hit.

While the creative industries' value continues to dwarf the cultural sector's at £155.8bn, cultural businesses generated nearly £36bn in 2019 - more than gambling and sport combined (£8.3bn and £16.9bn respectively).

Among all DCMS sectors, culture drew the largest proportion of its value from London. Activity in the capital added £2.2bn more to the economy in 2019 - a 10% rate of growth.

The sector's gross value added grew by 6% in all other regions except the West Midlands, where it fell by about £1m.