Economic value of cultural and creative activity

Analysis shows cultural and creative activity contributed $115.2 billion to Australia’s economy in 2017-18.

Conducted by the Bureau of Communications, Arts and Regional Research (BCARR), the analysis indicates cultural and creative activity accounted for 6.3% of Australia’s gross domestic product (GDP) over this 12-month period.

This image of Australia shows that cultural and creative activity equates to 6.3 per cent of Australia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017-18. The column chart shows cultural and creative activity increased by $29.2 billion or 34.0 per cent from $86.0 billion in 2008 09 to $115.2 billion in 2017-18.

Cultural and creative activity includes the arts, media, heritage, design, fashion and information technology.

This activity contributed $115.2 billion to Australia’s economy in 2017-18, a 34% increase over the decade-up from $86 billion in 2008-09.

Cultural and creative activity can be measured in each category separately or together.

This is a Venn diagram showing the values and overlap of cultural and creative activity in 2017-18. Cultural activity is valued at $65.3 billion and creative activity is valued at $102.7 billion, with an overlap between the two of $52.8 billion.

The publication tracks annual growth in cultural and creative activity based on data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, measuring the economic activity driven by cultural and creative industries as well as the wages received from cultural and creative occupations in other industries.

 Gross value added and net taxes on products from cultural and creative industries was $93.3 billion; compensation of employees received by individuals working in cultural and creative occupations that are outside industries identified as cultural and creative was $21.9 billion; volunteer services to arts/heritage organisations was $1.0 billion; and non‑market output of market producers was $91 million.

Design has experienced significant growth over the past decade, driven mainly by computer system design and related services.

This is a column chart showing the related cultural and creative industries ('domains') that contributed most to cultural and creative activity in 2017-18. The largest domains were design at $44.1 billion, fashion at $14.9 billion, and broadcasting, electronic or digital media, and film at $9.7 billion.

The BCARR will continue to update these estimates on an annual basis.

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