Economic review of creative industries worldwide, with a focus on Arab countries

The creative and cultural industries are the intersection of art, culture, business, and technology. According to global statistics, these industries have had continuous growth in recent decades. Governments too have in this period become aware of the high capacity of these industries. Among the reasons for governments' attention to the creative industries is diversifying the ways of earning income and growth.

The creative and cultural industries account for a significant share of global GDP. This figure annually amounts to approximately 2/2 billion dollars, which is approximately 3 percent of total global GDP. On the other hand, about 30 million people, or in other words 1 percent of the employed population, work in these industries. Estimates show that the coronavirus pandemic affected 7.3 million of these jobs in European Union member countries. Even so, this pandemic created an opportunity for various areas of these industries to be able to move toward digitalization at a faster pace than before. In this report these industries have been examined economically, and several countries have also been examined in greater detail. However, since this report was prepared by an Arab institute, its focus is more on Arab countries.