Overview

Cultural and creative industry contributed 6.8 per cent to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), fuelling RM130.7 billion in 2024

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) recorded another new achievement with the released of Cultural and Creative Satellite Account 2024. This inaugural publication is an initiative undertaken by DOSM to provide detailed statistics that shed light on the impact of cultural and creative activities to the Malaysia’s economy. In particular, the statistics provides an estimate of the cultural and creative industry’s contribution to GDP, exports, imports, and employment in this industry.

In 2024, cultural and creative industry further expanded to 7.1 per cent (RM130.7 billion) compared to 4.5 per cent in the preceding year. Hence, cultural and creative industry contributed 6.8 per cent to Malaysia’s GDP in 2024. 

The cultural and creative industry consists of core domain and transversal domain. Core domain comprises economic and social activities that are traditionally associated with culture while transversal domain supports the core domain. The transversal domain also cuts across almost all core domains to ensure that the entire cultural ecosystem functions effectively and more comprehensively.

Core domain grew at 7.8 per cent (2023: 7.0%) in 2024 led by Design and creative services with a growth of 8.2 per cent from 10.7 per cent in 2023. The growth was backed by Engineering services, Architectural services and Advertising.

Meanwhile, transversal domain increased by 6.6 per cent (2023: 3.1%) in 2024 driven by Equipment and multipurpose devices with a growth of 8.4 per cent (2023: 5.3%).

In terms of international trade, exports of creative products rebounded to 12.4 per cent (RM63.0 billion) in 2024, compared to a decline of 1.1 per cent in the previous year. Imports of creative products continued to record double-digit growth at 15.8 per cent (RM43.9 billion) as compared to 22.3 per cent in 2023.

Employment in the cultural and creative industry grew by 2.8 per cent (2023: 2.0%) reaching 763.1 thousand persons in 2024. Accordingly, employment in the cultural and creative industry accounted for 4.7 per cent of total employment.

For interviews, press statement and clarification to the media, contact:
Baharudin Mohamad
Public Relation Officer
Email: baharudin[at]dosm.gov.my
Phone: 03 8090 4681

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