Philippines’ creative economy grows to P1.72 trillion in 2023 —PSA

The country’s creative economy continued its growth trajectory, hitting more than a trillion pesos in 2023 and contributing a significant percentage to the entire gross domestic product (GDP).

In a statement on Thursday, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the creative economy stood at P1.72 trillion last year.

It also contributed 7.1% to the country’s 2023 GDP —which measures the size of the economy in terms of the total value of goods and services produced in a period.

Year-on-year, the creative economy grew by 6.9% from its 2022 recorded value of P1.61 trillion.

The PSA said the creative economy is composed of the following industries: 

• Audio and audiovisual media activities
• Digital interactive goods and service activities
• Advertising, research and development, and other artistic service activities
• Symbols and images and other related activities
• Media publishing and printing activities
• Music, arts and entertainment activities
• Visual arts activities
• Traditional cultural expression activities
• Art galleries, museums, ballrooms, conventions and trade shows, and related activities

The Statistics agency said that out of the creative domains, symbols and images and other related activities had the highest share at 31.5% or P541.75 billion to the total creative economy in 2023, up 2.4% from P529.12 billion value in 2022. 

Advertising, research and development, and other artistic service activities contributed 21.9%, while digital interactive goods and service activities accounted for 21.1% in 2023.

Moreover, PSA there were 7.26 million persons employed in creative industries in 2023, which grew by 4% from 6.98 million employed in 2022.  

The agency said employment in traditional cultural expression activities recorded the highest share of 35.5% in 2023. 

This was followed by symbols and images and other related activities and advertising, research and development, and other artistic service activities with 30.3% and 17.8%, respectively. —LDF, GMA Integrated News