OECD FACTBOOK 2011 © OECD 2011
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GLOBALISATION • TRADE
Trade
SHARE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GDP
International trade is a principal channel of economic integration. International trade tends to be more important for countries that are small in terms of geographic size or population and surrounded by neighbouring countries with open trade regimes than for countries that are large, relatively self-sufficient, or geographically isolated and penalised by high transport costs. Other factors that help explain differences in the importance of international trade across countries are history, culture, trade policy, the structure of the economy (especially the weight of non-tradable services in GDP), re-exports and the presence of multinational firms (which leads to much intra-firm trade).
Definition
The importance of international trade in different countries is measured here by the share of trade in goods and services, for exports and imports, in GDP. The rates shown correspond to imports and exports of both goods and services at current prices as a percentage of GDP. Goods consist of merchandise imports and exports. Services cover transport, travel, communications, construction, IT, financial, other business, personal and government services, as well as royalties and license fees.
The data are taken from OECD national accounts statistics compiled according to the 1993 System of National Accounts.
Comparability
The ratios shown in this table are compiled using common standards and definitions. Data for Australia and New Zealand refer to fiscal years.
Sources
• OECD (2011), National Accounts of OECD Countries, OECD Publishing.
Further information Statistical publications
• OECD (2011), International Trade by Commodity Statistics, OECD Publishing.
• OECD (2011), Main Economic Indicators, OECD Publishing.
• OECD (2011), Monthly Statistics of International Trade, OECD Publishing.
• OECD (2011), National Accounts at a Glance, OECD Publishing.
• OECD (2011), Statistics on International Trade in Services, OECD Publishing.
Methodological publications
• Lindner, A., et al. (2001), “Trade in Goods and Services:
Statistical Trends and Measurement Challenges”, OECD Statistics Brief, No. 1, October.
• OECD, et al. (2002), Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services, United Nations.
Websites
• OECD International Trade and Balance of Payments Statistics, www.oecd.org/std/its
Overview
Before the recent economic crisis international trade in goods and services, both for imports and exports, showed a steady increase throughout the OECD area, with the OECD total increasing (on average) by between 4 and 5 percentage points for both measures between 2004 and 2008, with imports slightly outpacing exports. In 2009 however, in the midst of the recent crisis, the ratio for both imports and exports in GDP fell markedly, wiping out nearly all of the increases recorded after 2004. The GDP ratio for imports in 2009 at 25.0% was only marginally higher than in 2004. This pattern was mirrored by the export-to-GDP ratio for the OECD total, which increased on average from 23.7% to 24.7% over the same period.
Estimates for 2010 show a return to pre-crisis ratios in many countries, with strong rebounds in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands and the Slovak Republic.
International imports in goods and services
As a percentage of GDP
1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932534976
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
JPN CAN KOR USA EA17
GLOBALISATION • TRADE
OECD FACTBOOK 2011 © OECD 2011
87
SHARE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN GDP
International trade in goods and services
As a percentage of GDP
1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932503778
Imports Exports
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Australia 20.6 21.1 20.9 21.8 22.1 20.2 .. 18.0 19.5 19.7 19.7 22.7 19.8 ..
Austria 48.1 50.2 51.7 53.6 53.4 46.0 50.5 51.9 54.2 56.8 59.3 59.2 50.5 55.3
Belgium 71.8 76.2 78.5 79.5 84.8 70.2 78.2 76.7 80.2 82.3 83.4 85.7 73.0 81.4
Canada 34.1 34.1 33.6 33.0 33.7 30.4 .. 38.4 37.8 36.1 35.0 35.3 28.7 ..
Chile 31.6 32.8 30.7 33.2 41.1 31.2 33.3 40.8 41.3 45.8 47.2 44.7 39.0 40.5
Czech Republic 70.1 69.0 73.0 75.1 72.5 63.6 74.5 70.1 72.2 76.4 80.1 77.1 69.1 79.3
Denmark 40.5 44.1 48.9 49.9 51.9 44.1 44.9 45.4 49.0 52.1 52.2 55.1 47.9 50.5
Estonia 80.1 84.2 82.9 78.1 75.6 58.6 71.6 73.1 77.7 72.7 67.6 71.5 64.7 78.3
Finland 33.4 37.7 40.8 40.7 43.0 35.2 36.2 39.9 41.8 45.5 45.8 47.0 37.5 38.9
France 25.7 27.0 28.1 28.4 29.1 25.2 27.8 26.1 26.4 27.0 26.9 26.9 23.3 25.5
Germany 33.3 35.8 39.7 39.8 41.0 35.9 40.8 38.4 41.1 45.4 46.9 47.5 40.8 46.1
Greece 32.4 31.5 33.0 34.6 36.3 29.6 29.4 22.4 22.4 22.5 22.7 23.4 18.8 21.0
Hungary 66.4 68.3 78.4 79.7 81.1 72.2 79.1 62.9 66.1 77.3 80.8 81.6 77.4 86.5
Iceland 39.7 44.0 50.0 45.3 47.1 44.3 45.9 34.1 31.7 32.2 34.6 44.3 52.9 56.5
Ireland 68.9 69.9 69.7 71.5 74.4 75.4 .. 83.8 81.6 79.3 80.5 83.4 90.7 ..
Israel 41.2 42.9 42.2 43.7 41.5 32.2 .. 41.3 42.7 42.7 42.4 40.1 34.7 ..
Italy 24.6 26.0 28.6 29.2 29.4 24.3 28.5 25.4 25.9 27.7 29.0 28.7 23.8 26.8
Japan 11.4 12.9 14.9 15.9 17.4 12.3 .. 13.3 14.3 16.1 17.6 17.5 12.6 ..
Korea 36.7 36.6 38.3 40.4 54.2 46.0 49.6 40.9 39.3 39.7 41.9 53.0 49.7 52.4
Luxembourg 128.2 130.3 139.1 143.6 145.9 134.6 141.5 152.3 155.8 169.9 175.9 178.4 167.6 176.7
Mexico 28.4 28.6 29.3 29.6 30.3 29.2 .. 26.6 27.2 28.1 28.0 28.1 27.7 ..
Netherlands 59 61.1 65.1 66.0 68.4 62.0 70.3 66.4 69.6 72.8 74.2 76.6 69.2 78.4
New Zealand 29.3 29.6 30.0 29.2 32.1 26.5 .. 28.6 27.4 28.6 28.3 30.8 27.9 ..
Norway 28.5 28.2 28.4 30.4 29.6 28.1 28.6 42.0 44.6 46.4 45.8 48.5 41.6 41.9
Poland 39.8 37.8 42.2 43.6 43.9 39.4 42.3 37.5 37.1 40.4 40.8 39.9 39.5 41.5
Portugal 36.5 37.2 39.7 40.2 42.5 35.5 38.1 28.1 27.8 31.0 32.2 32.4 28.0 31.0
Slovak Republic 77.3 80.9 88.4 87.8 85.6 71.0 81.9 74.5 76.3 84.4 86.7 83.3 70.6 80.9
Slovenia 59.1 62.6 67.1 71.3 70.5 57.0 63.0 57.8 62.2 66.5 69.6 67.4 58.3 63.6
Spain 29.9 31.0 32.7 33.6 32.2 25.5 28.4 25.9 25.7 26.3 26.9 26.5 23.4 26.3
Sweden 37.8 40.6 43.0 44.4 46.8 41.9 44.1 46.0 48.4 51.1 51.9 53.5 48.4 50.0
Switzerland 39.4 42.3 44.2 46.0 45.1 40.7 42.1 46.3 49.0 52.5 56.2 56.4 51.7 54.2
Turkey 26.2 25.4 27.6 27.5 28.3 24.4 26.6 23.6 21.9 22.7 22.3 23.9 23.3 21.1
United Kingdom 28 29.8 31.6 29.7 31.9 30.1 32.8 25.3 26.4 28.5 26.6 29.3 28.0 29.4
United States 15.2 16.1 16.8 17.0 17.9 14.0 .. 10.0 10.4 11.0 11.9 12.9 11.2 ..
Euro area 34.7 36.6 39.2 40.0 40.8 35.0 39.4 36.7 38.1 40.4 41.4 41.9 36.3 40.7
EU27 total 34.6 36.5 39.2 39.6 41.0 35.6 39.7 35.7 37.1 39.6 40.1 41.3 36.6 40.5
OECD total 24.7 25.8 27.5 28.0 29.5 25.0 .. 23.7 24.4 25.9 26.8 28.0 24.7 ..
China 31.4 31.5 31.4 29.6 27.3 22.3 .. 34.0 37.1 39.1 38.4 35.0 26.7 ..
Russian Federation 22.2 21.5 21.0 21.5 22.0 20.4 .. 34.4 35.2 33.7 30.2 31.2 27.7 ..
South Africa 26.7 27.9 32.5 34.2 38.6 28.3 27.5 26.4 27.4 30.0 31.5 35.6 27.4 27.4
International trade to GDP ratios
As percentage of GDP, 2010 or latest available year
1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932503797
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10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Imports Exports
141.5 176.7
