Georgia 7.1.1

Expenditures allocated by the state in the field of culture shall be determined within the Law on the State Budget of Georgia.

The Law on the State Budget of Georgia for 2021 allocates the funds for culture, art, sport, youth policy and other activities through the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth.

GDP for 2021 is calculated as GEL 53 443 000 000. Public cultural expenditure is GEL 191 997 470.

In 2021, the public cultural expenditure in percentage of GDP is 0.35% respectively.

Table 5: Public cultural expenditure per capita in Georgia, in GEL, 2001, 2010 and 2021

Year	State expenditure	GDP	% of GDP	Population	Expenditure per capita
2001	29 435 600	6 647 100 000	0.44	4 401 400	6.68
2010	96 583 700	28 118 900 000	0.34	4 401 300	21.9
2021	191 997 470	53 443 000 000	0.35	3 728 600	51.49

In comparison to other European countries, public cultural expenditure per capita in Georgia is very low:

• GEL 51.99 (or 14.30 EUR) in 2021, respectively, or 0.35 % of GDP in 2021;
• GEL 21.9 (or 8.7 EUR) in 2010, respectively, or 0.46 % of GDP in 2010;
• GEL 6.68 (or 4 EUR) in 2001, respectively, or 0.44 % of GDP in 2001.

An increase in per capita expenditure is related to the general growth of GDP.

The total budget of Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia was:

• In 2018– GEL 149 379 900 (fact)
• In 2019 – GEL 170 378 400 (fact)
• In 2020 – GEL 104 746 400 (target)

However, only GEL 13 243 600 was spent on culture in 2020 (fact)

This was due to the crisis caused by Covid-19, whereupon the budget was significantly reduced.

Noteworthy is that from 2018 to March 2021, the cultural sector was a part of the joint Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia. Information on the funds spent on culture individually is not available. The budget of the newly established Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia was defined only for 2021 – GEL 22 454 000 (target) and for 2022- GEL 41 374 000 (target).