The World's Creative Export Giants

raquelgoulartra
12 minutes ago
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This article is published in collaboration with Statista

by Anna Fleck

South Korea has set its sights on becoming one of the “big-five” cultural powers by 2030, with plans to expand its creative exports to an estimated $36 billion. According to Reuters, this growth will be driven by a push in key industries such as music, dramas, webtoons, beauty products and food.

There are various ways of assessing the strength of cultural powers around the world. The Brand FinanceSoft Power Index by, for example, ranks South Korea 12th worldwide and identifies it as the fastest-improving nation among those ranked in the top 100 last year. This rise is partly attributed to the international success of K-pop and K-Wave series, which have boosted the country's scores in arts, entertainment and media, alongside strong performance in the areas of technology, innovation and science.

However, South Korea's position is less dominant when measured by the export value of creative goods. According to the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), South Korea exported around $10 billion worth of creative goods in 2023, ranking 17th globally. This represents a notable decline from 2022, when it featured in rank 8 with exports totaling $18 billion. The primary product groups were software, video games and recorded media. As a share of total merchandise trade, creative goods exports fell from 2.7 percent in 2022 to 1.6 percent in 2023. This change could reflect weak global demand and part of a wider slump of Korean exports that year. Still, this dip is likely temporary, as exports of intellectual property, covering areas like music, film, and gaming, continued to rise in 2024.

It is important to note that this data covers a wide range of creative goods. These are defined as tangible items that fall under categories such as audiovisual, multimedia and photography, software, video games, recorded media, music, performing and visual arts, cultural and natural heritage, books and publishing products. It also includes the category of crafts and design, which is further divided into subcategories ranging from toys to wickerware. The UNCTAD also distinguishes between creative goods and creative services, the latter referring to intangible activities such as design, advertising and digital content creation.

While the creative goods framework is useful for revealing wider trends, such as developed economies dominating books and publishing exports while developing economies lead in exports of crafts and design goods, as well as software and videogames, it is more difficult to make closer comparisons between the vastly different country portfolios. For instance, unlike South Korea’s leaning towards media-driven exports, China’s creative goods exports are largely made up of interior products, toys and fashion accessories, according to a UNCTAD report.

Overall, the UNCTAD estimates that in 2023, the global creative economy accounted for over 6 percent of total gross value added. Yet, the organization notes that many developing countries are underrepresented in the global creative goods market despite their rich cultural heritages, limiting their economic opportunities.

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