New Caledonia: Merchandise trade (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, New Caledonia's merchandise trade (% of GDP) fell 13.27 percentage points on 2023 (from 54.36% to 41.09%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +0.37 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.33 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.6 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 18.41 percentage points in 1970 and the biggest yearly fall was 26.11 percentage points in 1972. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 14% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2024, New Caledonia had the 4th highest value of the 10 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to New Caledonia in the 2024 ranking

• United Arab Emirates — 1st of 10: 208.15%
• Faroe Islands — 2nd of 10: 80.78%
• Curaçao — 3rd of 10: 71.55%
• Aruba — 5th of 10: 39.66%
• French Polynesia — 6th of 10: 38.74%
• Bahamas, The — 7th of 10: 35.58%

What this measures

General merchandise trade includes goods whose economic ownership is changed between a resident and a non-resident and that are not included in the following specific categories: goods under merchanting, non-monetary gold, and parts of travel, construction, and government goods and services n.i.e. It is the total of merchandise exports plus merchandise imports. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 60 values

Merchandise trade (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• American Samoa — 117.68% (2022)
• Australia — 36.04% (2025)
• Brunei Darussalam — 109.99% (2025)
• Cambodia — 127.1% (2025)
• China — 32.59% (2025)
• Fiji — 70.62% (2025)
• French Polynesia — 38.74% (2024)
• Guam — 18.42% (2022)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 371.02% (2025)
• Indonesia — 36.3% (2025)
• Japan — 33.68% (2025)

More private sector & trade data for New Caledonia

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$2.12 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$1.27 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 89.36% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.51% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$2.84 billion (2023)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 45.9% (2023)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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Questions people ask

What is New Caledonia's merchandise trade (% of GDP)?

41.09% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1965?

It is down 47.88 percentage points from 88.98% in 1965. The highest value was 117.61% in 1970 and the lowest 36.75% in 1998.

How does New Caledonia rank?

4th highest of 10 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in merchandise trade (% of GDP) unusual for New Caledonia?

In 2024, New Caledonia's merchandise trade (% of GDP) fell 13.27 percentage points on 2023 (from 54.36% to 41.09%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +0.37 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.33 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.6 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TG.VAL.TOTL.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Trade Organization (WTO); World Bank GDP estimates, World Bank (WB); World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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