The UK design economy contributed £136.7 billion to the economy in 2023, equivalent to 5.5% of UK Gross Value Added (GVA) - approximately £1 in every £20 - according to new research from the Design Council.
Design Economy 2026, the Design Council’s flagship tri-annual study into the value of design, shows the scale of design’s contribution across industries, places and jobs, and argues that strengthening design capability will be critical to delivering good growth across the UK.
The findings show that design-led growth is being felt well beyond London and the Southeast. Since 2019, design GVA has increased by 88% in Wales and 67% in the Northeast. The Design Council says this growing regional contribution demonstrates the potential for design to support successful devolution, place-based innovation and community-led economic development, helping regions translate investment into higher-value jobs and stronger local economies.
Overall, the design economy grew by 40% between 2019 and 2023, compared with 24% growth across the wider UK economy. Its contribution is now larger than the UK’s entire retail sector, worth £114 billion, and nearly twice the size of the accommodation and food service industry, worth £70 billion. While inflation was unusually high over the period, the figures underline the increasing economic weight of design across the UK.
Crucially, design’s value is not confined to specialist design businesses. Two-thirds of the GVA created by the design economy - £90.6 billion - comes from designers working outside the design industries, in sectors including manufacturing, engineering, healthcare, finance, retail and the public sector. Around 80% of designers now work in non-design industries, while employment of designers in non-design industries grew by 20% between 2020 and 2025, compared with 6% employment growth in design industries. The findings suggest that organisations are increasingly bringing design capability in-house as a core part of how they innovate and grow.
The report also points to rising productivity. In 2023, productivity among designers working inside and outside the design industries was estimated at £60,704 per person, up around 18% from 2019. Product and industrial design generated the highest economic value per employee, at £96,200. A case study in the report looks at Lloyds Banking Group and the role of digital design in supporting wider business growth, illustrating how design skills are increasingly embedded within major organisations rather than operating only as an external creative service.
Employment growth reinforces that picture. More than 2.27 million people were employed across the design economy in 2025, up 15% since 2020 - an increase of approximately 297,000 jobs - while total UK employment grew by less than 2.5% over the same period. Of those working in the design economy, around 1.88 million are employed in design occupations, which now account for 6.2% of all UK employment.
UK design also has significant international reach. Design service exports reached £71 billion in 2022, up from £56 billion in 2019, and represented 17% of all UK service exports - equivalent to around 77% of the value of UK financial services exports. Digital design accounts for more than £50 billion of these service exports, reflecting the growing international demand for UK digital design capability.
However, the report warns that future growth cannot be taken for granted. Entries for Design and Technology GCSEs have fallen by 68% over the decade to *2024, raising concerns about the future skills pipeline at a time when businesses need design capabilities to respond to rapid technological change, including AI. Progress on workforce diversity also remains slow: women account for only 25% of designers, while Black designers make up 2% of the design workforce compared with 5% of the wider UK working population.
“These figures should change the way we think about design. It is not a niche creative activity sitting at the edge of the economy; it is a £136.7 billion capability embedded in the way organisations effectively innovate, tackle complex problems and grow," says Mat Hunter, Chief Executive of the Design Council.
"The opportunity now is to make sure that capability is available everywhere - in businesses and public services, across every region and nation - and that we invest in the skills and diversity needed to sustain it for the future.”
Dids Macdonald OBE, Chairman and Co-Founder of Anti Copying In Design (ACID) and part of the Design Economy Advisory Group said today, "Year on year, the design economy research demonstrates the extraordinary breadth of design within innovation across all sectors and its exponential growth. I hope that the government will listen to Design Council policy asks to support SMEs to protect and manage intellectual property and in growing the design workforce of the future, that ‘Learning Labs’ will help designers develop skills in AI, green design, systems thinking, commercial capability and intellectual property literacy.”
“Above all Government must realise the economic weight behind the intellectual capital underpinning the design economy and that intellectual property protection will play an increasingly more important role in safeguarding this national asset to achieve even more growth.”
