The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is pleased to announce its February 2025data release for expenditure on culture and natural heritage (SDG 11.4.1).
Indicator 11.4.1: 11.4.1 Total expenditure per capita spent on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage, by source of funding (public, private), type of heritage (cultural, natural) and level of government (national, regional and local/municipal).
- Over the five years of data collection, the number of countries reporting data for SDG 11.4.1 or at least one of its disaggregation has almost tripled to 82 countries. Country coverage in the database now represents all SDG regions, demonstrating the significant and ongoing efforts by developing country Member States to produce data to monitor SDG target 11.4.
- The results show a large contrast between and within the SDG regions for available countries in terms of funding for world heritage. Figure 1 shows the value of public expenditure per capita on cultural and natural heritage (PPP$ constant 2017), according to GDP per capita. This figure shows a wide range of reported values for public expenditure on heritage per capita, from less than 1 PPP$ (constant 2017 USD) in most countries from Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia to 365.9 PPP$ (constant 2017 USD) in Europe and North America. Even within Europe and North America, with countries with similar GDP per capita (between 40,000US$ to 60,000US$), the value of public expenditure per capita on cultural and natural heritage varies from 57.51 PPP$ (Constant 2017 USD) to 365.92PPP$ (Constant 2017 USD).
Figure 1: Public expenditure per capita on cultural and natural heritage, (PPP$ Constant 2017) and GDP per capita, most recent available data (2019-2024)

Read more in the Background document.