Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2016
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Released: 2018-02-27
Economic importance of culture and sport in Canada
The Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators are timely estimates of the economic contribution of culture and sport in Canada. In 2016, culture gross domestic product (GDP) and sport GDP combined for a total of $60.3 billion and equated to over 765,000 jobs in Canada. The largest contributors to culture GDP and jobs were the audio-visual and interactive media and the visual and applied arts domains, which include, among others, activities related to design, broadcasting, and film and video. For sport, the largest component was organized sport activities, including the hosting of sporting events.
Culture GDP in Canada totalled $53.8 billion in 2016, a 1.5% increase from the previous year, while economy-wide GDP increased 1.8%. Culture accounted for 2.8% of Canada's overall GDP. The importance of culture varied considerably across provinces and territories, ranging from a share of 1.3% of GDP in Saskatchewan to 3.5% in Ontario.
At the national level, culture GDP increased in most domains in 2016, led by sound recording (+7.3%). The only decrease was in the written and published works domain (-2.8%), which declined for the fourth consecutive year.
Culture jobs in Canada were up 2.2% to 652,406, while economy-wide jobs grew 1.1% in 2016. Culture jobs accounted for 3.5% of all jobs in the economy. Regionally, culture jobs as a share of total economy jobs ranged from 1.8% in Nunavut to 4.0% in British Columbia.
All domains contributed to culture job growth in Canada in 2016.
Sport GDP rose 3.2% in 2016, totalling $6.5 billion and representing 0.3% of the total economy. The GDP of all sport domains grew with the exception of informal sport, which declined 0.2%.
Sport jobs increased 4.9% in Canada in 2016 as gains were recorded in all domains except informal sport (-1.5%). Sport jobs accounted for 0.6% of total jobs in Canada, while on a regional level sport jobs as a proportion of total jobs ranged from 0.3% to 0.9%.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Culture GDP in Newfoundland and Labrador was $414.5 million in 2016, accounting for 1.4% of the province's total economy. Culture GDP rose 1.9% while the overall provincial economy increased 1.8%. The audio-visual and interactive media domain (+6.2%) contributed the most to the increase.
There were 4,968 culture jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2016, up 7.6% from the previous year. Culture jobs accounted for 2.1% of all jobs in the province.
Sport GDP rose 2.2%, totalling $69 million in 2016. The province had 1,208 sport jobs in 2016, an increase of 7.1% from the year before.
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island's culture GDP stood at $107.7 million, representing 1.9% of the total provincial economy in 2016. It rose 2.0% in 2016, compared with a 4.4% economy-wide GDP gain. The audio-visual and interactive media domain (+5.7%) contributed most to the growth in culture GDP in the province.
Culture jobs were up 8.5% to 1,694 in 2016. Economy-wide the number of jobs in Prince Edward Island declined 2.3%.
Sport GDP totalled $21.6 million in 2016, an increase of 2.1% from the year before. This accounted for 0.4% of the provincial economy. In 2016, there were 332 sport jobs in Prince Edward Island.
Nova Scotia
Culture GDP in Nova Scotia grew 0.7% to $874.1 million in 2016. This accounted for 2.3% of the total provincial economy. The live performance domain (+4.7%) contributed the most to the growth in culture GDP.
In 2016, there were 13,719 culture jobs in Nova Scotia. This was a 4.9% year-over-year increase and followed two years of job losses. Economy-wide jobs were down 0.1% in the province.
Sport GDP totalled $151.7 million in 2016, a 3.9% gain from the previous year. Sport contributed 0.4% of the total provincial economy, which rose 2.9%. Nova Scotia had 2,760 sport jobs in 2016, up 5.5% from the previous year.
New Brunswick
Culture GDP in New Brunswick contracted 2.3% to $543.2 million in 2016. Culture accounted for 1.7% of the total provincial economy, which rose 3.4%. Visual and applied arts (-29.6%) experienced the largest decline of all culture domains in 2016.
There were 8,469 culture jobs in New Brunswick in 2016, a 2.2% gain from the previous year. This compared with a 0.9% increase in the total number of jobs in the province.
Sport GDP totalled $81.4 million in New Brunswick in 2016, up 2.6% from the previous year. Sport jobs rose 3.0% to 1,492.
Quebec
In Quebec, culture GDP amounted to $11 billion or 3.0% of the total provincial economy in 2016. Culture GDP grew 1.8%, with the fastest increase in the heritage and libraries domain (+6.1%).
There were 161,035 culture jobs in 2016 in Quebec. This represented a 5.2% increase from the previous year, compared with a 1.0% gain in total jobs for the provincial economy.
Sport GDP in Quebec rose 2.3% to $901 million in 2016. Sport jobs grew 7.0% to 19,210.
Ontario
Ontario's culture GDP rose 1.4% to $25.7 billion in 2016. This accounted for 3.5% of the total provincial economy. Sound recording (+11.9%) had the fastest growth of all the domains in Ontario.
There were 269,082 culture jobs in Ontario in 2016. This was a 0.4% decrease from the previous year, compared with a 1.3% gain in total jobs for the provincial economy.
Sport GDP totalled $2.8 billion in 2016, up 3.7% from the previous year. Sport jobs in Ontario increased 2.2% to 45,495.
Manitoba
Culture GDP in Manitoba grew 2.5% to $1.6 billion in 2016. This accounted for 2.5% of the total provincial economy. All culture domains posted growth in 2016.
Manitoba had 22,454 culture jobs in 2016. This was an increase 0.6%, compared with 0.3% gain in total-economy jobs in the province.
Sport GDP was up 0.4% to $232.8 million in 2016. This compared with a 2.3% increase in the total provincial economy. There were 3,568 sport jobs in 2016, a 1.4% decrease from the previous year.
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan's culture GDP totalled $914.9 million in 2016. This was a 0.3% decrease from the previous year and compared with a 4.2% decline in the total provincial economy. The written and published works domain (-5.2%) contributed the most to the decline in culture GDP.
Culture jobs increased 2.2% to 12,850 in 2016. Overall, total jobs in Saskatchewan decreased 1.1%.
Sport GDP was up 3.2%, totalling $233.3 million 2016. The province had 3,345 sport jobs in 2016, up 6.9% from the previous year.
Alberta
Culture GDP in Alberta was $5.3 billion or 1.7% of the total provincial economy in 2016. Culture GDP was down 1.1%, while the total provincial economy fell 5.2%. The decrease in culture GDP was led by the visual and applied arts (-5.6%) and written and published works (-3.7%) domains.
Culture jobs receded 1.5% to 57,816, while economy-wide jobs fell 1.3%.
Sport GDP grew 2.3% to $773.6 million in 2016. There were 13,440 sport jobs in Alberta in 2016, a 3.6% increase from the previous year.
British Columbia
In British Columbia culture GDP totalled $7.2 billion in 2016.This was a 3.9% gain from the previous year and amounted to 2.9% of the total provincial economy. The audio-visual and interactive media (+5.6%) and visual and applied arts (+6.3%) domains contributed the most to the increase in culture GDP.
There were 98,244 culture jobs in British Columbia in 2016. This was 7.1% higher than the year before, compared with a 4.1% increase in economy-wide jobs.
Sport GDP rose 4.0% to $1.2 billion in 2016. This amounted to 0.5% of the total provincial economy, the largest share among the provinces. There were 21,768 sport jobs in British Columbia in 2016, a 10.7% increase from the previous year.
Yukon
Yukon's culture GDP was $56.3 million in 2016. This was a 1.4% increase from the previous year and amounted to 2.1% of the total territorial economy. The heritage and libraries domain (+12.7%) recorded the largest year-over-year increase in GDP. Culture jobs rose 8.6% to 857, compared with a 10.5% increase in total jobs in the territory.
Sport GDP grew 2.5% to $6.5 million in 2016. There were 102 sport jobs in the territory, a 4.1% increase from the year before.
Northwest Territories
Culture GDP in the Northwest Territories edged up 0.1% to $76.1 million in 2016. This compared with a 3.0% decline in GDP for the total economy. Increases in the governance, funding and professional support (+1.1%), audio-visual and interactive media (+4.4%) and live performance (+3.1%) domains offset the decrease in the written and published works domain (-8.0%). There were 896 culture jobs in 2016, a 2.8% gain from the year before.
Sport GDP totalled $8.6 million in 2016, an increase of 2.2% from the previous year. Sport jobs rose 5.8% to 110, compared with a 4.3% increase in the number of total jobs in the territory.
Nunavut
Nunavut's culture GDP declined 1.5% to $47.7 million in 2016. Economy-wide GDP in the territory was up by 1.8%. The governance, funding and professional support domain (-1.8%) contributed the most to the decline in culture GDP. There were 321 culture jobs in Nunavut, a 2.1% decline from the year before.
Sport GDP amounted to $8 million in 2016, a 0.5% increase from the previous year. Sport jobs decreased 18.1% to 77, while economy-wide jobs in Nunavut increased 7.7%.
Culture and sport gross domestic product per capita and as a share of the total economy, 2016
Note to readers
The Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators (PTCI) are timely economic estimates of culture and sport in Canada, and were developed as an extension of the more comprehensive Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account. The PTCI cover culture (including arts and heritage) and sport across Canada in terms of output, nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and jobs for the years 2010 to 2016.
The PTCI are a joint initiative of Statistics Canada, other federal agencies, all provincial and territorial governments, as well as non-governmental organizations.
All of the figures of GDP in this release are expressed in nominal, basic prices. The analysis in this release focuses on the product perspective of the PTCI, that is, the production of culture and sports goods and services and their contribution to output, nominal GDP and jobs in both culture and non-culture industries and sport and non-sport industries.
Culture GDP is the nominal GDP associated with culture activities. This is the value added related to the production of culture goods and services across the economy regardless of the producing industry.
Sport GDP is the nominal GDP associated with sport activities. This is the value added related to the production of sport goods and services across the economy regardless of the producing industry.
Culture jobs are defined as the number of jobs that are related to the production of culture goods and services.
Sport jobs are defined as the number of jobs that are related to the production of sport goods and services.
Differences in growth between GDP and jobs may be the result of several factors, such as changes in production costs, prices of goods and services, labour productivity and hours worked per job. Furthermore, growth in nominal GDP (or contraction) may not immediately lead to increases (or decreases) in employment. That is, there may be a lag between economic output and resulting changes in the labour force.
Products
The article, "The 2010 to 2014 revisions of the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators," which is part of the Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X), is now available.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is also available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is also available.
The System of macroeconomic accounts module features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structures.
Contact information
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