New Report Reveals 2010 Canadian Cultural Statistics

The Cultural Human Resources Council (CHRC) has announced the release of the first Culture Satellite Account (CSA) Report, which provides the most precise and reliable data available on the economic impact of culture (inclusive of the arts and heritage) and sport in Canada. 

The CSA was developed by Statistics Canada with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage and its many partners, including CHRC, Canada Council for the Arts, Library and Archives Canada, Telefilm Canada, Canadian Arts Data, and The Creative City Network of Canada. All of the provinces and territories were involved, as well as numerous municipalities. 

The CSA will provide new statistics every year on a range of indicators, such as gross domestic product (GDP) and jobs.

Some of the highlights, as outlined in CHRC's announcement, are as follows: 

Industry perspective

• GDP of culture industries was $53.2 billion in 2010, contributing 3.4% to Canada's total GDP. Of which culture products accounted for $40.7 billion and other products (i.e. non-culture products) $12.5 billion.
• Culture industries accounted for 704,000 jobs, a 4.0% share.
• Culture industries formed 3.2% ($99.3 billion) of the total production in Canada.

The arts, culture, and heritage industry in Canada was larger than the accommodation and food services industry ($30.6 billion) and twice as big as the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry ($23.9 billion).

Per CHRC, development of the CSA continues in order to broaden its scope. The first publicly available figures at the provincial and territorial level are expected in 2015, followed by work to determine the feasibility of reporting at other levels.

Click here to read the full report on the Statistics Canada website.