Between these two years, "the average household expenditure on cultural goods and services" fell by 10%, or around a hundred euros per year, indicated INSEE in its "social portrait" of France in 2022.
Two factors explain this: mainly the drop in prices of "capital goods providing access to cultural content" and then the drop in spending on books and the press (-11%).
"Between 2011 and 2017, the average share of the household budget devoted to culture fell by 0.6 points, from 4.4% to 3.8%", summarizes INSEE.
The price of books, over this period, increased less rapidly than overall inflation (+1.8%, against 4.7%) and that of newspapers and periodicals was drastically lowered (-18.9%).
The future looks difficult for print, which has an older audience.
According to INSEE, "the share of spending on books and press increases sharply with age: in 2017, it was 13% for the youngest households [under 35, editor's note] and reached 35% for older people [over 65]".
The winners in culture are "royalties and subscriptions" (to television offers, or to video or music platforms) and "outings and entertainment", the price of which has increased (+8%), but not necessarily attendance .
Equipment whose price is falling are televisions, computers and other electronic devices (including cameras), sound equipment, etc.
The INSEE survey also highlights the persistent differences between social classes regarding the budget devoted to culture.
"Households whose reference person is a manager or higher intellectual profession are those who spend the most on culture (66% more than the average in 2017)", she writes.
The smallest culture budgets are found, in amount, among inactive non-retired people, but as a percentage among farmers and manual workers.
© 2022 AFP