The Philippines’ creative economy expanded to ₱2.12 trillion in 2025, even as employment in the sector slightly declined, according to data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Latest figures show the sector grew by 6.9 percent from ₱1.98 trillion in 2024, contributing 7.6 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices.
The creative economy covers a wide range of industries, including audiovisual media, digital interactive services, advertising, research and development, and various artistic and cultural activities.
Among these, “symbols and images and other related activities” accounted for the largest share of the sector’s gross value added at ₱670.15 billion, or 31.6 percent. This was followed by digital interactive goods and services at 19.7 percent, and advertising and related artistic services at 15.9 percent.
Despite the sector’s growth, employment saw a slight contraction. Jobs in creative industries dipped by 0.4 percent to 8.71 million in 2025, from 8.74 million in the previous year.
Creative industries still accounted for 17.8 percent of total employment nationwide. Traditional cultural expression activities employed the largest share of workers at 33 percent, followed by symbols and images (27.1 percent) and advertising-related activities (23.7 percent).
Meanwhile, creative-related economic activity continued to show resilience. Creative collective consumption rose by 2 percent to ₱16.49 billion in 2025. Exports of creative goods reached ₱320.06 billion, while services exports hit ₱426.99 billion.
However, imports remained higher, with creative goods imports at ₱711.48 billion and services imports at ₱138 billion.
The PSA data underscores the growing economic contribution of the creative sector, even as it faces challenges in sustaining employment growth.
