Countries by Imports of goods and services (constant 2015 US$)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

This metric measures the total value of imports of goods and services, expressed in constant 2015 US dollars to allow comparison over time free of price distortions. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code NE.IMP.GNFS.KD), imports of goods includes change in the economic ownership of goods from non-residents to residents of the compiling economy, irrespective of physical movement of goods across national borders, and imports of services includes services provided by non-residents to residents. The ranking covers 184 countries. Of those, 166 out of 184 (90.2%) have data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality. The latest reference year is 2024, though data for that year is available for only 147 of 184 countries (79.9%). Twenty-one extreme outliers were identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold, reflecting the wide dispersion in trade volumes across the dataset.

The top of the ranking is dominated by large, high-income economies with deep integration into global trade. The United States leads at $3.70 trillion, followed by China at $2.00 trillion and Germany at $1.50 trillion. The United Kingdom ($1.02 trillion, rank 4) and France ($904.34 billion, rank 5) are closely matched, with Japan ($904.16 billion) just behind at rank 6. Notably, smaller but highly trade-dependent economies appear well up the ranking: Singapore ranks 10th at $692.14 billion and the Netherlands ranks 9th at $700.65 billion, both ahead of much larger economies such as Canada (rank 11, $617.59 billion) and Australia (rank 20, $385.77 billion). Ireland's rank 15 position at $541.67 billion reflects its role as a significant trade hub relative to its population size.

The middle of the ranking contains a diverse set of emerging and developing economies. Viet Nam ranks 21st at $357.27 billion, ahead of Brazil (rank 23, $314.10 billion) and the Russian Federation (rank 24, $300.65 billion). One counterintuitive placement is Luxembourg at rank 40 with $114.20 billion, ahead of much larger economies such as Pakistan (rank 41, $112.48 billion) and Egypt (rank 42, $112.05 billion). At the lower end, countries such as Nauru (rank 184, $108.99 million), Palau (rank 183, $173.05 million), and Marshall Islands (rank 182, $200.60 million) record import values that are a fraction of even small middle-income nations. The range across all 184 countries spans from $108.99 million to $3.70 trillion, a spread of over 3,397,349%.

Several limitations affect the interpretation of this ranking. Constant 2015 US dollar values allow temporal comparison but depend on the accuracy of deflators applied in each country, which vary in methodology and reliability. The 2024 data year has coverage for only 147 of 184 countries (79.9%), meaning that for 37 countries the most recent available year is used as a proxy, which may not reflect current conditions. Countries with significant informal trade, re-export economies, or incomplete national accounts may understate or distort true import volumes. The metric records change in economic ownership rather than physical movement of goods, so it may diverge from customs-based import statistics in some jurisdictions. Territories such as Puerto Rico (rank 64), Macao SAR (rank 85), and Hong Kong SAR (rank 14) are included as separate entries, which affects comparisons with their sovereign counterparts.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code NE.IMP.GNFS.KD, for the reference year 2024. The metric is expressed in constant 2015 US dollars. Per the source definition, imports of goods includes change in the economic ownership of goods from non-residents to residents of the compiling economy, irrespective of physical movement of goods across national borders, and imports of services includes services provided by non-residents to residents. The ranking covers 184 countries, exceeding the 80-country coverage threshold. Of these, 166 (90.2%) have data from within the last seven years, and all datapoints (100%) are classified as official quality, above the 70% threshold. Data for the latest year (2024) is available for 147 of 184 countries (79.9%); remaining countries use the most recent available year. The dataset contains 21 extreme outliers identified at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 9.7%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from $108.99 million (Nauru) to $3.70 trillion (United States), a spread of approximately 3,397,350%.

Sources

• World Bank