Austrian Creative Industries Report 2024
The Austrian Creative Industries Report 2024 underlines the central importance of the creative industries for Austria. The creative industries are a key driver of economic development and the implementation of innovations in the triple transition. For the first time, even the smallest companies are included in the statistics, which also makes the burgeoning entrepreneurial potential more visible.
The Creative Industries Report 2024 marks the beginning of a new era for the creative industries. Due to an evaluation change at Statistics Austria, we were able to obtain a complete picture of the creative industries for the first time, because from now on even the smallest companies, those with an annual turnover of less than € 10,000, will be included in the statistics:
- Economic performers: The 77,000 companies with 200,000 employees generated a turnover of over € 28 billion and a gross operating surplus of € 3.7 billion in 2021. In terms of the significance of these indicators, this corresponds to around 4% of the overall economy.
- Important economic sector: The creative industries comprise 13% of all companies in Austria and employ 5.6% of the working population, which underlines their central role in the overall economy.
- Solo self-employed with innovative strength: 75% of companies in the creative industries are one-person businesses, which indicates a highly fragmented structure that promotes flexibility and innovation.
- Women power: Women make up 43% of employees in the creative industries, which is above the average for the economy as a whole. Women are particularly well represented in self-employment, with 35% of company managers being female.
- Urban with regional distribution: While Vienna is the center of the creative industries and accounts for 37% of creative companies and over half of the sector's turnover, 63% of creative companies operate outside Vienna. In federal states such as Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Styria, the creative industries are also an important economic factor and make a significant contribution to regional economic development. The creative force is therefore of crucial importance for all locations in Austria.
Kreativwirtschaft Austria is a funding recipient of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor and publishes the Austrian Creative Industries Report as part of the BMAW's Creative Industries 2030 innovation program in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.
