Notice of release
Québec, February 14, 2023. – In 2020, Québec municipalities’ operating expenditures on culture totalled $956 million, down 6.0% from 2018.
These expenditures accounted for nearly 4.3% of all municipal operating expenditures and represented a contribution of $112.49 per capita. Approximately three quarters of municipal expenditures on culture were spent on services rendered to the population ($731 million). This was revealed in the bulletin Les dépenses en culture des municipalités en 2020, published today by the Observatoire de la culture et des communications of the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
Municipal operating expenditures on culture, Québec, 2014 to 202011
1. Municipal expenditures on culture are not available for 2017 and 2019 because the survey is conducted every two years.
Source
Institut de la statistique du Québec, Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec.
Expenditures to pay salaries and benefits for staff in municipal culture departments remained relatively stable ($326 million; -0.6% from 2018), while expenditures in other categories such as artists’ fees and building maintenance and other municipal services, which were greatly impacted by the pandemic, dropped by 35.3% and 17%, respectively.
The share of expenditures financed by municipal and property taxes increased to 86% of spending on cultural services rendered in 2020 (82% in 2018). This increase is due to a decline in other sources of funding in the context of the pandemic, particularly revenues from the sale of goods and services (-67%).
As in past years, three fields accounted for the bulk (83%) of municipal spending on culture: libraries ($343 million; -1.3%), arts and letters ($139 million; -10.4%), and heritage, public art, and design ($122 million; +5.2%).
Per capita expenditures highest in large municipalities
Among the seven size groups of municipalities studied, the highest per capita expenditures were in the group of municipalities with a population of 500,000 or more, which consists of Montréal and Québec ($181.56 per capita), and in the group of municipalities with a population of 100,000 to 199,999, which comprises Lévis, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, Terrebonne and Trois-Rivières ($110.54 per capita). The smallest municipalities, i.e. those with fewer than 5,000 people, had the lowest per capita spending ($43.06 per capita).
The bulletin also provides an analysis of municipal expenditures on culture by administrative region.
L’Institut de la statistique du Québec produit, analyse et diffuse des informations statistiques officielles, objectives et de qualité sur différents aspects de la société québécoise. Il est le responsable de la réalisation de toutes les enquêtes statistiques d’intérêt général. La pertinence de ses travaux en fait un allié stratégique pour les décideurs et tous ceux qui désirent en connaître davantage sur le Québec.