After the end of the Corona pandemic, German federal cultural spending has seen a significant decline. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), cultural spending in 2022 decreased by 28% compared to 2021, reaching 2.5 billion euros. The reason is the expiration of Corona relief funds.
In 2023, cultural spending decreased by another 4.8% to 2.4 billion euros, while the states increased their planned cultural spending by 491 million euros to 6.1 billion euros, a 9% increase.
In 2021, the federal government, states, and municipalities together spent 14.9 billion euros on culture. The spending in 2021 remained at a high level, still influenced by the Corona relief measures, the office reported based on the 2024 Culture Finance Report.
Compared to the previous year, the spending increased by 2.9%, and cultural spending was 59% higher than in 2011. The share of public cultural spending in the gross domestic product was 0.4%. Per capita, the federal government, states, and municipalities spent 180 euros on culture in 2021.
In 2021, the municipalities and states accounted for the largest part of public cultural spending. The municipalities contributed 5.8 billion euros (39%), and the states financed the cultural sector with 5.6 billion euros (38%). The federal government spent 3.5 billion euros (23%).
The largest expenditure area of the federal government in 2021 was the “Other Cultural Care” with 1.2 billion euros, or 36% of its cultural spending, which included pandemic-related relief measures for cultural institutions.
At the states and municipalities, the majority of the spending was for theater and music in 2021 (36% and 40%, respectively, of the cultural spending).
Even across all entities, the largest share of public cultural spending in 2021 was for the area of theater and music, at 31%, followed by “Other Cultural Care” at 21%, and museums, collections, and exhibitions at 19%. The remaining spending (29%) was distributed among libraries and archives, cultural affairs abroad, monument protection, public art schools, and administrative costs for cultural affairs.