Contents
- Creative business counts statistics: UK creative-business totals and change
- Creative business counts statistics by employment size, turnover and sites
- Creative business counts statistics across UK regions
- Swedish creative business counts by legal form and business activity
- Creative business counts statistics in Stockholm and its municipalities
- Sources
Creative business counts statistics: UK creative-business totals and change
In March 2025, the United Kingdom had 269,655 businesses in the creative industries. They represented 9.9% of UK registered businesses overall. This is a snapshot of businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE, not a count of every person doing creative work or every informal creative activity. The figure describes enterprises under the report’s classification and registration scope. DCMS, section 2.2
The longer comparison shows a decrease of 9.4% in the creative-industries business count between March 2019 and March 2025. That percentage describes the change between those snapshots. It does not identify how many businesses opened or closed in the intervening period, nor does it track the fortunes of particular firms. DCMS, section 2.2
The same report presents the cultural sector separately: it counted 84,595 businesses in March 2025, and its count increased by 15.8% from March 2019 to March 2025. The cultural sector overlaps with the wider creative industries, so these totals are not independent populations and should not be added together. Their different directions over the reported period are descriptive; the figures do not explain what caused either movement. DCMS, section 2.3
The UK figures give a useful sense of scale, but the classification matters. The count covers registered businesses in the report’s creative-industries definition. It does not represent all people who make creative work, and it does not isolate illustration businesses. Read the overall total and trend as measures of the report-defined business population at the stated dates. DCMS, section 2.2
Creative business counts statistics by employment size, turnover and sites
The March 2025 size profile shows that most businesses in both UK groupings were in the smallest reported employment and turnover bands. For creative industries, 93.4% had 0–9 employees and 77.8% had annual turnover below £250,000. For the cultural sector, the corresponding shares were 95.4% and 77.1%. Each percentage refers to businesses within its named group. DCMS, sections 2.2–2.3
| UK registered-business group, March 2025 | Businesses with 0–9 employees | Businesses with annual turnover below £250,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Creative industries | 93.4% | 77.8% |
| Cultural sector | 95.4% | 77.1% |
The 0–9 employee band is the report’s “micro” employment category. Employment and turnover describe different characteristics, and their percentages should not be treated as a combined measure. The cultural sector also overlaps with the creative industries. DCMS, sections 2.2–2.3
The report distinguishes enterprises from business sites, which it defines as local units. In March 2025, creative industries businesses had 278,215 sites across the UK, while the cultural sector had 90,160. A business and a site are different units: an enterprise may operate at a different number of locations. DCMS, sections 2.2–2.3
Counts use the Inter-Departmental Business Register and are rounded to the nearest five. Employee bands, turnover bands, enterprise totals and site totals each describe a different feature of the registered population. Keeping those measures distinct avoids treating a count of locations as a count of companies. DCMS, notes and sections 2.2–2.3
Creative business counts statistics across UK regions
Creative-industries sites made up 8.7% of the 3,180,620 UK registered business sites in March 2025. London contained 33.9% of creative-industries sites. The comparison figure for all UK registered sites was 18.8% located in London. The London percentages have different denominators: one concerns creative-industries sites, the other all registered sites. DCMS, section 2.2
| Site measure, March 2025 | Creative industries | UK registered sites overall |
|---|---|---|
| Sites across the UK | 278,215 | 3,180,620 |
| Share of UK total sites | 8.7% | — |
| Share located in London | 33.9% | 18.8% |
For cultural-sector sites, the report records 90,160 across the UK in March 2025, with 40.1% located in London. This is a separate sector measure from the creative-industries site share. Because the classifications overlap, the counts do not describe mutually exclusive sets of sites. DCMS, section 2.3
Across the reported groupings, London’s share of sites exceeded its 18.8% share of all UK registered sites: the creative-industries share was 33.9%, and the cultural-sector share was 40.1%. These figures describe site locations in March 2025. They do not establish why the distributions differed. DCMS, sections 2.2–2.3
Swedish creative business counts by legal form and business activity
Sweden’s cultural and creative industries had 143,674 businesses in 2023 under the report’s selected classification. The population covers companies and other legal entities registered in Sweden, using selected SNI codes and manual quality review. The legal-form counts were 47,521 limited companies, 77,995 sole traders, and 18,158 entities in other legal forms. Swedish Cultural and Creative Industries, pp. 22, 25
| Swedish cultural and creative industries, 2023 | Count |
|---|---|
| Total businesses | 143,674 |
| Limited companies | 47,521 |
| Sole traders | 77,995 |
| Other legal forms | 18,158 |
Other legal forms include non-profit associations, foundations, economic associations and general partnerships. These categories show how the report’s total is organized by legal form; they do not identify creative occupations within each form. Swedish Cultural and Creative Industries, pp. 22, 25
Revenue reporting adds context about activity within the legal forms. Of the sole traders, 44,680 were recorded as having revenue in 2023. The report says approximately 13% of limited companies reported no revenue, as did more than 40% of sole traders. Each statement uses its own legal form as the reference group and refers to revenue reporting for 2023. Swedish Cultural and Creative Industries, pp. 22, 25
The report gives 247,585 as total employment in 2023, measured in full-time equivalents. It separately lists 187,931 employees in limited companies and estimates 14,974 employees in other legal forms. Estimates for other legal forms and sole traders use 2022 key-figure averages, so the total includes estimated components rather than direct observations for every legal form. Swedish Cultural and Creative Industries, pp. 22, 25
Revenue figures likewise combine reported and estimated components. Limited companies recorded SEK 607,294 million in revenue. Total revenue across the sector was SEK 653,909 million; estimated revenue was SEK 16,208 million for sole traders with revenue and SEK 30,407 million for other legal forms. The latter estimates use 2022 activity averages. These are broad cultural and creative industries measures, not figures specific to illustrators. Swedish Cultural and Creative Industries, p. 25
Creative business counts statistics in Stockholm and its municipalities
Stockholm County’s cultural and creative industries comprised nearly 70,000 businesses and organizations in 2024. The regional total included just under 31,000 limited companies, nearly 34,000 sole proprietorships and more than 5,000 entities in other organizational forms. Examples of those other forms include general partnerships, non-profit associations, foundations and economic associations. Stockholm County report, pp. 6, 11
The limited-company count increased by more than 10% from 2023 to 2024. During 2024, more than 3,000 new businesses began activity in the county’s cultural and creative industries, and approximately the same number moved into the region. Starts and moves are reported as activity during the year, alongside the broader county total. Stockholm County report, p. 11
The photography category rose from 337 businesses in 2023 to 1,276 in 2024. The report cautions that the 2023 count was likely underestimated, which matters when interpreting the reported change. These category counts do not identify an illustrator-only population. Stockholm County report, p. 11
Municipality-level counts show the scale of the report-defined industries in Nacka and Solna. Nacka recorded 3,291 cultural and creative businesses in 2024, including 1,466 sole proprietors and 1,825 limited companies. Solna recorded 1,803, with 1,017 sole proprietors and 787 limited companies. Stockholm County report, pp. 11–12
| Municipality, 2024 | Total cultural and creative businesses | Sole proprietors | Limited companies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nacka | 3,291 | 1,466 | 1,825 |
| Solna | 1,803 | 1,017 | 787 |
The counts follow the Stockholm report’s cultural and creative industries classification. Its broad categories do not isolate illustration businesses. The “Litterärt och konstnärligt skapande” category includes varied activities and is described as statistically difficult to capture, so county and municipality totals should be read as counts for the selected industries rather than a complete count for a specific creative occupation. Stockholm County report, pp. 11–12, 23