Romania was last among the EU Member States in 2015 in terms of culture expenditure per inhabitant, according to data from EU’s statistical office Eurostat.

Expenditure per inhabitant on 'recreation, culture and religion' stood at only EUR 97 in Romania in 2015. Bulgaria was second to last with an expenditure of EUR 106, lower than that registered in Greece – EUR 113, Lithuania – EUR 120, Poland – EUR 126, and Portugal – EUR 130.

On the other hand, an expenditure above EUR 800 per inhabitant was registered in Luxembourg - with EUR 1,068 and Denmark - EUR 843. They were followed at a distance by Finland - EUR 565, the Netherlands - EUR 561, Sweden - EUR 499, Austria - EUR 487, Belgium - EUR 437, and France - EUR 435.

On average, expenditure on 'recreation, culture and religion' amounted to EUR 299 per inhabitant in the EU in 2015.

The 28 EU Member States reported nearly EUR 153 billion of government expenditure on 'recreation, culture and religion' in 2015, Eurostat data shows. The figure represents only 1% of EU’s GDP, being much lower than the amount spent on other main functions such as ‘social protection’ (expenditure equivalent to 19.2% of GDP in 2015), 'health' (7.2%), 'education' (4.9%), and even 'defence' (1.4%).

Eurostat: Romania registers lowest cultural and sports attendance rate in EU

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com