Provincial and Territorial Cultural Indicators, 2023
The Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators (PTCI) are timely economic estimates of culture and sport in Canada made possible thanks to a joint initiative of Statistics Canada and a number of partners, including the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage, and others.
Research goal
The PTCI are an extension of the Culture Satellite Account (CSA), an accounting framework developed to measure the economic importance of culture (including arts and heritage), and sport to the Canadian economy.
Methods
Data are extracted from administrative files and derived from Statistics Canada surveys and other sources.
Outcomes
Key highlights from the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2023 include:
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
- Canada's culture GDP rose 5.2% to $63.2B in 2023, with increases in all domains.
- The largest contributors to this gain were the culture governance, funding, and professional support domain (+$0.9B; +9.5%), visual and applied arts (+$0.7B; +5.2%) and live performance (+$0.4B; +12.7%) domains.
- As a proportion of total economy GDP, culture accounted for 2.3% in 2023, unchanged from 2022.
- The 5 provinces and territories with the highest culture GDP were Ontario ($28.0B, or a 44.2% share of the total culture GDP), Quebec ($13.7B, or a 21.6% share), British Columbia ($10.5B, or a 16.6% share), Alberta ($5.5B, or an 8.8% share) and Manitoba ($1.8B, or a 2.8% share).
Culture Jobs
- Culture jobs increased 2.4% to 669,600 in 2023. Growth was led by job increases in both the visual and applied arts and the live performance domains.
- The share of culture jobs accounted for 3.2% of all jobs in Canada.
- The number of culture jobs increased in all provinces except the Northwest Territories (-4.7%) from 2022 to 2023. Increases ranged from 1.8% (Ontario) to 8.5% (Prince Edward Island).
- The 5 provinces and territories with the highest number of culture jobs were Ontario (267,378 or a 39.9% share of total culture jobs), Quebec (161,624, or a 24.1% share), British Columbia (122,644, or a 18.3% share), Alberta (53,189, or an 7.9% share) and Manitoba (21,344, or a 3.2% share).

Provincial/Territorial Culture Totals for 2023
Culture GDP in 2023 - In thousands of dollars | Culture jobs in 2023 | |
---|---|---|
Canada | 63,240,566 | 669,591 |
Newfoundland and Labrador | 521,624 | 5,052 |
Prince Edward Island | 148,456 | 1,953 |
Nova Scotia | 1,180,954 | 13,973 |
New Brunswick | 661,683 | 7,631 |
Quebec | 13,674,212 | 161,624 |
Ontario | 27,975,914 | 267,378 |
Manitoba | 1,754,883 | 21,344 |
Saskatchewan | 1,055,545 | 12,832 |
Alberta | 5,548,480 | 53,189 |
British Columbia | 10,478,636 | 122,644 |
Yukon | 82,520 | 867 |
Northwest Territories | 84.856 | 635 |
Nunavut | 72,333 | 466 |
Source: Statistics Canada, Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2010 to 2023. Date: June 2, 2025

Culture Gross Domestic Product and Jobs, Detailed Figures for 2023
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)* | Jobs** | |
---|---|---|
Archives | 26,888 | 274 |
Libraries | 136,728 | 1,133 |
Culture Heritage | 567,168 | 11,898 |
Natural Heritage | 275,654 | 5,687 |
Total | 1,006,439 | 18,992 |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)* | Jobs** | |
---|---|---|
Film and Video | 4,424,736 | 80,034 |
Broadcasting | 10,776,064 | 49,249 |
Interactive Media | 3,885,138 | 33,239 |
Total | 19,085,938 | 162,522 |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)* | Jobs** | |
---|---|---|
Books | 1,065,508 | 9,922 |
Periodicals | 8,38,009 | 8,099 |
Newspaper | 1,159,896 | 14,098 |
Other published works | 85,848 | 927 |
Collected information | 479,810 | 4,482 |
Multi | 4,236,802 | 53,504 |
Total | 7,865,873 | 91,032 |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)* | Jobs** | |
---|---|---|
Music Publishing | 160,101 | 1,911 |
Sound Recording | 346,565 | 3,399 |
Total | 506,666 | 5,310 |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)* | Jobs** | |
---|---|---|
Original visual art | 304,777 | 3,715 |
Art reproductions | 45,529 | 764 |
Photography | 1,174,429 | 13,729 |
Crafts | 2,770,570 | 29,991 |
Advertising | 3,321,740 | 33,605 |
Architecture | 2,439,396 | 19,569 |
Design | 4,009,505 | 54,260 |
Total | 14,065,947 | 155,634 |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)* | Jobs** | |
---|---|---|
Performing Arts | 3,468,471 | 68,968 |
Festivals and Celebrations | 196,582 | 4,089 |
Total | 3,665,053 | 73,057 |
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)* | Jobs** | |
---|---|---|
Education and training | 4,591,277 | 58,406 |
Governance, funding and professional support | 10,908,812 | 94,420 |
Multi | 1,544,563 | 10,218 |
Notes:
*Culture GDP in thousands of dollars
**Culture Jobs
Figures may not ad up to totals due to rounding.
Source: Statistics Canada, Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, 2010 to 2023. Date: June 2, 2025
Questions?
Please contact the Research, Measurement and Data Analytics Section at research@canadacouncil.ca.