Recently, the latest study, The Age of Culture: An Overview of the Global Cultural Creation Industries, jointly launched by UNESCO, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Authors and Composers Association. The report is completed by the survey of the Ernst & Young accounting firm, officially announced by the UNESCO press briefing. Irina Bokova, secretary-general gave great praise about the findings of the survey. She said that many years ago, UNESCO always hoped to release some relevant data about the cultural creation industries in order to provide better assessment for the global cultural creation industries contributing to the sustainable development of the economy.

The report uses informative data and charts to illustrate that the cultural creation industry is the pillar industry in the global economy and has made great contributions to the world economy and to social employment. Both the developed and emerging market economies are becoming the national and regional economic strategic assets.

The study shows that in 2013, the total revenue generated by the global cultural and creative industries was 2.25 trillion U.S. dollars, accounting for 3% of the total GDP of all countries in the world and surpassing the communications industry (1.57 trillion U.S. dollars); this industry creates 27.9 million jobs for all countries in the world, Accounting for 1% of the world's total employment, higher than the sum of the employed people in the automobile manufacturing industry in Europe, Japan and the United States (25 million).

Irina Bokova said: "Both for developed and developing countries, the cultural creation industry is an important engine for the economy of countries, becoming the fastest-growing industry and influencing on the value creation, social employment and export trade to create a bright future for many countries in the world.

The research report comprehensively shows the multi-polar world of the cultural creation industry and the world's cultures diversity. The report covers 11 areas of the cultural creation  industry in Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East including. The report shows comprehensive analysis and research about the industry including advertising design, architecture, books, video games, music, film, newspapers, performances, radio, television and visual arts. The data show that the Asia-Pacific region is the most prosperous region of the cultural creation industry in the world (with a total revenue of 743 billion U.S. dollars), followed by Europe (with a total income of 709 billion U.S. dollars), North America (with a total income of 6,200 billion U.S. dollars), Latin America $ 124 billion) and Africa and the Middle East (with a total revenue of $ 58 billion).

The three areas of the highest revenue in the cultural creation industry are: television (477 billion U.S. dollars), visual arts (391 billion U.S. dollars) and newspapers and magazines (354 billion U.S. dollars). The three fields of the largest number of employees are: Visual Arts (67.3 million), Music Production (3.98 million) and Books (3.67 million).

The report points out that the development of the digital economy has affected some traditional industries such as print media and physical bookstores but has injected more vitality into related fields. In 2013, the cultural creation industries created a profit of 200 billion U.S. dollars for the digital economy in the world, which greatly increases the sales of digital devices and the demand for broadband communications services. The revenue from digital advertising was 85.1 billion U.S. dollars and the sales of digital cultural devices amounted to 26.3 billion U.S. dollars. The revenue of digitized literary and artistic work is 66 billion US dollars and the revenue of cultural media advertising reaches 21.7 billion US dollars.

Jean-Michel, chairman of International Authors and Composers' Associations and goodwill ambassador of UNESCO, emphasized that this survey report will help all the governments in the world realize the development of the cultural creation industry can effectively promote social employment, raise national income and tax revenue, contribute to sustainable economic development and enable millions of people to develop their artistic creativity. At the same time, it is necessary to safeguard the rights and interests of creators and insist on the road of artistic innovation. It can be said that protecting the interests of literary and artistic creators is to protect the cultural economy. In response, the report made the following recommendations:

Protect the rights and interests of authors. The cultural creation industry needs a legal framework to guarantees their legal remuneration for encouraging the development of cultural economy and increasing social employment.

Improve payment methods. Greatly adjust the sales structure of cultural products, transfer parts of the value to the digital economy, create online payment methods conducive to online intermediaries and support the development of digital cultural creation industry.

Pay attention to the cultivation of art talents. The talent is the core element of the cultural creation industry. Arts talents should be cherished and the role of cultural creation organizations should be given full play to ensure the sustainable development of artistic innovation.