Paris. The new content recently put online by UNESCO extends the conclusions of its Global Report on Cultural Policies published in September 2025. The international organization places greater emphasis on the economic consequences of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the persistent weakness of public funding and the need to better structure international cultural policies.
UNESCO recalls in particular that certain projections suggest a possible reduction of 27% in the income of music creators by 2028 as a result of generative AI. Recent additions also highlight the decline in public investment in culture in many countries, even though the cultural and creative industries represent 3.39% of global GDP and 3.55% of total employment. Geographic imbalances remain particularly marked: public cultural spending per capita reaches $418.56 in Europe and North America compared to only $1.10 in sub-Saharan Africa. These figures must obviously be related to the overall disparity in income between these various continents.
Structural inequalities
The document published in 2025, however, remains unchanged in its official version. Based on the analysis of more than 1,200 national and local reports from 196 countries, it constitutes the first UNESCO global synthesis devoted to cultural policies. The study thus highlights the persistence of structural inequalities in the cultural sector. Women represent 38% of cultural employment worldwide but occupy less than 30% of management positions.
UNESCO establishes a direct link between these fragilities and the marginal place given to culture in the United Nations’ “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, where it only appears explicitly through a few “targets” relating to education and heritage. As an extension of the “Mondiacult 2022 Declaration”, the organization continues to advocate for the integration of culture as a sustainable development objective in its own right in the post-2030 global agenda. According to her, such an objective would make it possible to strengthen legal frameworks protecting artists, to harmonize international cultural data and to make cultural projects more eligible for major multilateral funding, particularly climate funding.
