Spain/ 6.2 Public cultural expenditure  

6.2.1 Aggregated indicators

Total public culture expenditure per capita in 2010 was EUR 149.2. By levels of government, the per capita expenditure of the central government (in 2010) amounted to EUR 22.8, and that of the autonomous and local governments was EUR 38.5 and EUR 87.9 respectively. The per capita figure varies widely from region to region. Using the liquidated regional expenditure on culture for 2010, the highest amount per capita allocated by an autonomous community was Navarre, at EUR 115, followed by the Basque Country (EUR 64.9) and Extremadura (EUR 59.2). At the lower extreme were the Balearic Islands (EUR 13.4), Madrid (EUR 17.6) and the Canary Islands (EUR 20.2).

In the period 2005-2010, for which comparative data are available, the evolution of per capita public expenditure on culture was positive. Overall, the expenditure grew in nominal terms by 24% (and 10% at constant prices for 2006). By levels of government, local government had the highest growth (29% in nominal terms, which represents a real growth of 15% at constant prices for 2006), followed by the central government (25% and 11%, respectively) and finally by autonomous governments, which recorded a more moderate growth (13% and 0%, respectively). The greater proximity of citizens to local governments has led the latter to invest more resources in this sector, showing the high degree of territorial decentralisation of the Spanish cultural policy (see also Table 2).

Public expenditure on culture accounted for approximately 0.65% of Spanish GDP and 1.36% of the total public expenditure in 2010. Both indicators had a different evolution during the period 2005-2010: while public spending on culture in relation to GDP has grown 0.09 percentage points compared to 2005 (in which public spending on culture accounted for 0.56% of GDP), public spending on culture has decreased by 0.08 percentage points (1.44% in 2005), compared to total public expenditure.

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