International trade

In 2023, UNCTAD estimates that global exports of creative services reached a record $1.5 trillion—more than twice the $677 billion recorded for creative goods exports. While creative services exports grew by 7.7% year-on-year, exports of creative goods declined by 5.4%. Creative services represented a significant share of total services exports, accounting for 19% in 2023, whereas creative goods made up 3% of total merchandise exports.

Over the past decade, creative services have consistently outperformed creative goods in terms of export value. While creative goods exports remained relatively stable, with only modest growth between 2010 and 2023, creative services exports followed a strong upward trajectory, more than doubling in value over the same period. This trend underscores the increasing global demand for creative services — including software, research and development, and digital content and media — compared with the slower growth of physical creative goods.

Creative services exports are concentrated among a small number of mainly developed economies. The ten largest exporters accounted for 73% of global creative services exports in 2023. Ireland and the United States remained the world’s leading exporters, each generating approximately $250 billion in creative services exports and capturing nearly 17% of the global market. The United Kingdom followed with $102 billion in exports, trailed by India ($94 billion) and Germany ($92 billion).

In recent years, some developing economies — particularly India, China and Singapore — have become important exporters of creative services. Among the top five creative services exporters from the developing world, all were in Asia except for Brazil.
While developed economies continue to dominate in terms of absolute export values, the increasing presence of developing economies in creative services trade highlights their growing but uneven participation in the global market.

A small group of economies continues to dominate global creative goods exports, accounting for more than 71% of the total. In 2023, China remained the world’s largest exporter of creative goods by a significant margin, recording $230 billion in exports despite an 8% decline compared with 2022. The United States ranked second with $47 billion in exports, followed by Italy ($41 billion), France ($32 billion) and Hong Kong SAR ($31 billion).