Prešeren Day, the Slovene Cultural Holiday
Prešeren Day, 2025
Culture contributed 2.8% to Slovenia’s gross domestic product in 2022.
Prešeren Day has been celebrated as a holiday of Slovenian culture since 1945, as a national holiday since 1946, and a work-free public holiday since 1991.
What does the culture sector consist of?
In the statistical survey on culture, culture is divided into core culture and total culture.

Contribution of core culture
In 2022, core culture contributed EUR 780.8 million or 1.6% to the gross value added of the Slovenian economy, the same share as in 2019.
Core culture contributed EUR 927.3 million to gross domestic product (GDP), which was 1.6% of the total GDP in 2022 (in 2019, the share was 1.7%).
Economic importance of total culture
In 2022, total culture contributed EUR 1,424 million or 2.9% (in 2019 2.8%) to the gross value added of the economy.
The gross domestic product that can be attributed to total culture amounted to EUR 1,603.3 million or 2.8% of total GDP in 2022 (in 2019 also 2.8%).
Cultural supply dominated by domestic production
In 2022, domestic production contributed the most to the total cultural supply, i.e. 67.6%, while 28.7% of cultural goods and services were imported. The share of net taxes (taxes less subsidies on products) was 3.7%.
Core culture contributed more than half to the production of total culture: of a total of EUR 3.281 billion, core culture produced EUR 1.791 billion of cultural goods and services.
Supply dominated by advertising
An overview by cultural areas for 2022 shows that advertising stands out in the supply of total culture, and as regards core culture audio-visual activity.
How much money is intended for culture?
According to the first estimate, in 2022, the government allocated for final consumption EUR 473.2 million for total culture, of which EUR 317.6 million for core culture. Government expenditure on final consumption for total culture thus amounted to EUR 225 per person and for core culture to EUR 151 per person.
Each resident spent on average EUR 439 on core culture and EUR 479 on total culture.
Employment in culture
In 2022, 42,427 persons were employed in total culture and 24,242 in core culture. Compared to 2019, the number increased slightly, but the share in total employment in the country practically did not change: it was 3.9% in total culture and 2.2% in core culture.
A more detailed overview of persons employed in the twenty typical cultural occupations shows that at the end of 2023 16,372 persons entered in the Statistical Register of Employment were engaged in one of these occupations. Among them, 62.2% were employed and 37.8% were self-employed, whereby:
According to the latest data for 2022, a third of persons (33%) attended at least one cultural performance, the most popular being concerts, followed by theatrical performances.
Cinemas were visited by 22% of persons, with young people aged 16–24 recording the largest share (47%), while at least one film in a cinema was seen by only 5% of persons aged 65+.
What is the position of Slovenia compared with other EU Member States?
In 2022, in most EU Member States – namely 15 out of 26 (data for Germany are not available) – more than half of people aged 16+ attended cultural performances or participated in cultural activities. The highest shares were recorded in western and Nordic Member States, namely 77.7% in Luxembourg and 77.3% in Denmark, followed by the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Ireland and Estonia (all with over 60%). At the other end of the scale, less than a quarter of the adult population in Romania (22.2%) and Bulgaria (19.7%) reported participating at least once in the last 12 months in any of the listed cultural activities.
In Slovenia, the share was 56.6%, which ranked our country eleventh in the EU.
Cultural participation is more difficult for persons with disabilities
In 2022, data were collected on cultural participation of persons reporting at least some level of activity limitation. The results showed lower rates of cultural participation among persons with disabilities compared to the total population aged 16+ in all EU Member States. In general, countries with higher total cultural participation also had higher participation of persons with disabilities. Among the latter, it was higher than 50.0% in Denmark (68.3%), Luxembourg (67.9%), Finland (55.4%) and the Netherlands (55.4%). At the other end of the scale were Bulgaria (6.1%), Romania (7.1%), Croatia (11.3%) and Cyprus (14.7%).
With 38.1%, Slovenia was tenth in the EU.
What does the culture sector consist of?
In the statistical survey on culture, culture is divided into core culture and total culture.
Contribution of core culture
In 2022, core culture contributed EUR 780.8 million or 1.6% to the gross value added of the Slovenian economy, the same share as in 2019.
Core culture contributed EUR 927.3 million to gross domestic product (GDP), which was 1.6% of the total GDP in 2022 (in 2019, the share was 1.7%).
Economic importance of total culture
In 2022, total culture contributed EUR 1,424 million or 2.9% (in 2019 2.8%) to the gross value added of the economy.
The gross domestic product that can be attributed to total culture amounted to EUR 1,603.3 million or 2.8% of total GDP in 2022 (in 2019 also 2.8%).
Cultural supply dominated by domestic production
In 2022, domestic production contributed the most to the total cultural supply, i.e. 67.6%, while 28.7% of cultural goods and services were imported. The share of net taxes (taxes less subsidies on products) was 3.7%.
Core culture contributed more than half to the production of total culture: of a total of EUR 3.281 billion, core culture produced EUR 1.791 billion of cultural goods and services.
Supply dominated by advertising
An overview by cultural areas for 2022 shows that advertising stands out in the supply of total culture, and as regards core culture audio-visual activity.
How much money is intended for culture?
According to the first estimate, in 2022, the government allocated for final consumption EUR 473.2 million for total culture, of which EUR 317.6 million for core culture. Government expenditure on final consumption for total culture thus amounted to EUR 225 per person and for core culture to EUR 151 per person.
Each resident spent on average EUR 439 on core culture and EUR 479 on total culture.
Employment in culture
In 2022, 42,427 persons were employed in total culture and 24,242 in core culture. Compared to 2019, the number increased slightly, but the share in total employment in the country practically did not change: it was 3.9% in total culture and 2.2% in core culture.
A more detailed overview of persons employed in the twenty typical cultural occupations shows that at the end of 2023 16,372 persons entered in the Statistical Register of Employment were engaged in one of these occupations. Among them, 62.2% were employed and 37.8% were self-employed, whereby:
- Occupations providing a more secure employment status are librarians and library clerks (as many as 99.5% are employed) and gallery, museums and library technicians (only 1.1% are self-employed).
- More precarious occupations with a large number of self-employed persons are creative and performing artists (more specifically, artists, imitators, comedians, storytellers, stand-up comedians) with only 15.2% employed, visual artists with 22.8% employed, and writers with 28.0% employed.
According to the latest data for 2022, a third of persons (33%) attended at least one cultural performance, the most popular being concerts, followed by theatrical performances.
Cinemas were visited by 22% of persons, with young people aged 16–24 recording the largest share (47%), while at least one film in a cinema was seen by only 5% of persons aged 65+.
In 2022, in most EU Member States – namely 15 out of 26 (data for Germany are not available) – more than half of people aged 16+ attended cultural performances or participated in cultural activities. The highest shares were recorded in western and Nordic Member States, namely 77.7% in Luxembourg and 77.3% in Denmark, followed by the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Ireland and Estonia (all with over 60%). At the other end of the scale, less than a quarter of the adult population in Romania (22.2%) and Bulgaria (19.7%) reported participating at least once in the last 12 months in any of the listed cultural activities.
In Slovenia, the share was 56.6%, which ranked our country eleventh in the EU.
Cultural participation is more difficult for persons with disabilities
In 2022, data were collected on cultural participation of persons reporting at least some level of activity limitation. The results showed lower rates of cultural participation among persons with disabilities compared to the total population aged 16+ in all EU Member States. In general, countries with higher total cultural participation also had higher participation of persons with disabilities. Among the latter, it was higher than 50.0% in Denmark (68.3%), Luxembourg (67.9%), Finland (55.4%) and the Netherlands (55.4%). At the other end of the scale were Bulgaria (6.1%), Romania (7.1%), Croatia (11.3%) and Cyprus (14.7%).
With 38.1%, Slovenia was tenth in the EU.
When making use of the data and information of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, always add: "Source: SURS". More: Copyright.