Eurostat released the information for the European Week of Sport, which runs from 23 September to 30 September. The statistics reveal that generally, EU government expenditure on sports and recreation has remained stable since the statistics service began examining it in 2004.
Data sets examined came from 2017, a year in which all 28 member stats of the European Union spent a total of €51.3 billion on recreation and sport.
Luxembourg showed itself exemplary in how much it spends on recreation and sport per inhabitant. Eurostat examined expenditure per inhabitant and shares of expenditure, the former taking into account the population size of each member state.
Only three EU member states spent more than €200 per inhabitant in 2017, namely Finland (€206), Sweden (€256), and Luxembourg, which came in at nearly €500 per inhabitant (€492). The Netherlands (€199), Denmark (€192), and France (€183) also spent high amounts per inhabitant.
In contrast, mainly eastern European countries were found to have the lowest recreation and sport expenditure, with Croatia recording the lowest amount (€13), followed by Bulgaria (€16) Slovakia (€23), Romania (€25), Lithuania (€31), and then Malta (€32). Croatia also scored lowest in terms of the ratio of sports and recreation spending at 0.2%. Here, Luxembourg was again among the highest spenders at 1.2% of the government’s total expenditure. Only Estonia (1.4%) and Hungary (2.5%) topped the list.
