site.btaEurostat: Bulgaria Shows EU's Worst Annual Decline in Cultural Workers in 2022

According to a report by Eurostat, published Thursday, in 2022 the cultural sector in the EU employed 7.7 million people, representing 3.8% of total employment. Compared with 2021, it indicated a 4.5% increase from 7.4 million.

The share of people employed in the cultural sector increased in 19 EU members and fell in the other 8. 

The most significant increases were recorded in Cyprus (+21.5 %), Luxembourg (+14.5%), Ireland (+14.0%), Sweden (+11.9%) and Netherlands (+10.5%). Meanwhile, the most significant decreases were recorded in Bulgaria (-7.7%), Czechia (-7.3%), Croatia (-6.3%), Estonia (-5.3%) and Latvia (-2.5%).

In Bulgaria in 2022, a total of 84,300 people had occupations related to the cultural sphere. Of these, 36,400 were men and 47,900 were women.

Their total number represented 2.7% of the employed population in the country. Only Romania (1.5%) had a lower share in the EU in 2022.

By comparison, in 2021, 3% of employed Bulgarians, or 91,300 people, worked in the cultural sector, and again Romania (1.4%) was the only EU country with a lower share.

Eurostat looks at the annual change in the share of employees in culture in different EU Member States for the period 2020-2022.

The countries that were able to recover cultural employment levels in 2022, compared to annual reductions in 2021, were Cyprus (from -5.7% in 2021 to +21.5% in 2022), Luxembourg (from -15.1% to +14.5%) and Ireland (from -3% to +14%).

In contrast, the most significant annual declines over the same period are recorded in the Czech Republic (from +5.3% in 2021 to -7.3% in 2022), Croatia (from +6.3% to -6.3%) and Bulgaria (from +4.1% to -7.7%).