World: Merchandise trade (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, World's merchandise trade (% of GDP) fell 0.41 percentage points on 2024 (from 44.3% to 43.89%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.46 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.93 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 6.27 percentage points in 1974 and the biggest yearly fall was 9.34 percentage points in 2009. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 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.

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 66 values

Merchandise trade (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 22.24% (2025)
• Algeria — 33.27% (2025)
• Bahrain — 87.63% (2025)
• Djibouti — 267.14% (2025)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 40.78% (2025)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 49.32% (2025)
• Iraq — 70.02% (2025)
• Israel — 25.29% (2025)
• Jordan — 71.19% (2025)
• Kuwait — 72.31% (2025)
• Lebanon — 85.88% (2025)

More private sector & trade data for World

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$26.69 trillion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$26.39 trillion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 5.46% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 65.06% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 23.19% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 20.78% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Europe & Central Asia (% of total merchandise imports)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

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

43.89% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1960?

It is up 26.36 percentage points from 17.52% in 1960. The highest value was 50.98% in 2008 and the lowest 16.98% in 1962.

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

In 2025, World's merchandise trade (% of GDP) fell 0.41 percentage points on 2024 (from 44.3% to 43.89%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.46 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.93 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Trade Organization (WTO); World Bank GDP estimates, World Bank (WB); World Development Indicators, World Bank (WB).

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.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.