I did notice art as a profession, or people calling themselves artists, are usually within Europe, but rarely in North America. Whenever I stumble upon an art or artist portfolio online, I assume they are in Europe, and most times it turns out to be true. My theory is that the system in Europe allows people to nurture their creative side, meanwhile in North America it's a hyper-capitalistic system and society where you are always running away from some beast -if not debt, it is rent, if not taxes, it's something else- making people run like hamsters on wheels with zero space for disconnection and solitude. And if you managed to make something cool, suddenly you are pressured to grow and expand and look for investors and whatnot. Even job-wise, in the US for example, there's this hustle culture where you are somewhat expected to keep grinding after work, and if you don't, you are either seen as less productive, a slacker, or even terminated for performance issues. If you decide to quit, you might end up homeless, so you are in this never-ending cycle where your life is about grinding and being busy with what's considered "productive".

Not to dismiss the rest of the world, but my focus was on the western side, not so sure how it goes in other parts of the world.