Carnaval! It’s that time of the year again!
Before we all start celebrating and drinking 25,8 beers, and walk the polonaise, it’s time to take a look at the effects of carnaval on the economy and society of the Netherlands. Is carnaval good for us? Do we spend more and pump money in our economy, or do all the days off for the working people have such a bad consequence for our economy that we should stop with this century old tradition?
The first big cost of carnaval everyone will mention is the hangover the next day. But let’s have a look at some other consequences.
In the total west side of the Netherlands around 200.000 people celebrate carnaval (incl. Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht). Carnaval has become more and more popular in the eastern side of the Netherlands, where around 200.000 people celebrate carnaval as well .
Then we have the southern side, Limburg and Brabant, in which there are around 1 million carnavalists. In total this sums up to 1.500.000 people in total in the Netherlands.
Also extra impulses are given to the economy. Think of the money that people spend on their costumes.
What does carnaval cost for a municipality? Permits/licences, financial contributions (subsidies) to associations (for activities): €30.000. Wild peeing. To clean up a municipality costs around €20.000. Extra presence of police per municipality is €15.000. Total extra costs for a municipality are €65.000 this is for the municipality of Sittard in Limburg. Here, we have 44.800 inhabitants so the extra costs are €1.45 per person. If we assume ceteris paribus. For all the carnavalists this means €1.45*1.5 million= €2.175.000 of tax money.
The average carnavalist drinks 5 liters beer a day. Times 1.500.000 means that the average beer consumption by carnavalists is 7,5 million liters beer a day, and 20.5 milion for the whole carnaval period! That’s just as much as having heavy rain for 15 minutes above the whole municipality of Eindhoven. These are big impulses for the Dutch bars and cafes.
Where does this beer go? Peeing is very expensive. The Dutch Dixy company rents out a lot of dixies during these days. It was impossible to find exact data on this, but it is known that they make huge profits during these days. They pay around €3.000 of tax to dump all the urine in the sewer.
Unfortunately, not everything of the beer gets out of the body. For example alcohol is taken up by the body. The costs of someone with an alcohol toxication are €250 per person. On average 20 people per day per hospital are taken in with an alcohol toxication. This cost €15.000 per hospital. All together this approximately costs €375.000.
Then the biggest costs we can mention for our economy due to carnaval. That’s simply the people who don’t go to work because they are celebrating carnaval. The average citizen in the Netherlands contributes €30.000 per year to our GDP. €100 per person per day on average. The carnavalists don’t work on Monday and Tuesday. It’s hard to find exact data on this, but it’s estimated that the 1.500.000 carnavalists at least take a day off on Monday and Tuesday. Which brings the costs to around €300 million euro’s.
Carnaval costs a lot of money, so why do we do it? The connecting value of carnaval is good for the ‘social capital’ of the region. In money terms, this value is an estimated 30 million. Due to carnaval, people who celebrate this become more active, have reason to stay where they live, it’s a reason for companies to invest. Carnaval marks the end of (historically seen) a period of living sad. Carnaval is very important in a stressed society like we live in today. Carnaval marks, inspires, and stimulates. This marks the beginning of a happy period, the spring is coming. Carnaval marks the beginning of happiness and a new economic season. Carnaval is thousands of years old, is an old ritual, and also employers in the south recognize the value of this tradition. Due to carnaval, lot of schools, associations, and people work together to create the most beautiful floats and wagons. Carnaval connects a lot of people from different backgrounds. When you wear a clowns suit, drink beer together and walk the polonaise, it doesn’t matter what your income is. Ultimately carnaval costs our economy some money. But it doesn’t even come close to the value for the people who celebrate it.
Everybody, enjoy your carnaval! Have a great one!
Alaaf!
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