According to the INE's annual data on Culture, councils spent more on Culture and creative activities by 10.5 percent in 2019, and the areas that contributed most to this increase were those of cultural heritage (with a growth of 16.8 million Euros), interdisciplinary activities (with a further 15.8 million Euros) and the performing arts (more than 11.7 million Euros).

Despite the increase registered in 2019, spending on cultural and creative activities represented on average only 5.9 percent of the total budget of councils.

The municipalities of the Alentejo (7.6 percent), the autonomous region of the Azores (6.7 percent) and the Center region (6.6 percent) were the ones that allocated the largest proportion of the respective budget to Culture.