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The growth of the Philippines’ creative economy slowed to its lowest in three years as the total value of creative industries only increased to ₱1.94 trillion from ₱1.78 trillion in the previous year.
Based on preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), last year’s 8.7 percent growth in the creative industries was the slowest since 2021 (7.1 percent), when the country was still experiencing the pandemic.
In 2024, it accounted for 7.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), up from 7.1 percent the previous year.
According to the PSA, the creative economy comprises industries such as audio and audiovisual media, digital interactive services, advertising, research and development, artistic services, symbols and images, media publishing and printing, music, arts and entertainment, visual arts, traditional cultural expressions, and activities related to art galleries, museums, ballrooms, conventions, and trade shows.
Symbols, images, and related activities contributed the largest share of the creative economy last year, 33 percent, or ₱640.3 billion.
Advertising, research and development, and other artistic services accounted for over 21 percent of the creative economy, followed by digital interactive goods and services at nearly 21 percent.
Of the nine industry groups, the group of art galleries, museums, ballrooms, and conventions and trade shows had the smallest contribution to the creative economy at ₱5.7 billion or barely one percent of the total.
Employment in creative industries rose to 7.5 million in 2024, up from 7.23 million in 2023, marking a 3.9 percent annual growth. This sector accounted for over 15 percent of the country’s total employment last year.
Traditional cultural expression activities had the largest share of employment in creative industries at 36.6 percent. Symbols, images, and related activities followed with 29.5 percent, while advertising, research and development, and other artistic services accounted for 17.9 percent.
To recall, the GDP of the country’s creative industries contracted by P132 billion, a drop of nine percent in 2020. Meanwhile, the creative economy slowly recovered and peaked at a 13.3-percent growth rate in 2022, when the country was almost out of the pandemic.
