Countries by Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP)
Puerto Rico ranks first globally with manufacturing value added at 44.1% of GDP, more than double the share recorded by fourth-ranked Ireland at 29.6%. At the other end, Bermuda records just 0.33%, placing 196th. The gap of over 43 percentage points reflects how differently economies are structured around industrial production.
Ranking 2024
Values shown in %.
Analysis
Manufacturing value added as a percentage of GDP measures how much of an economy's output originates from manufacturing activity. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator NV.IND.MANF.ZS), manufacturing includes industries classified in ISIC (Rev. 3) major division C and is defined as the physical or chemical transformation of materials or components into new products. Value added is the contribution to the economy by a producer or an industry or an institutional sector, which is estimated by the total value of output produced and deducting the total value of intermediate consumption. Values are expressed as a percentage of GDP, and a higher share indicates greater reliance on manufacturing within the economy. This ranking covers 196 countries, with 193 of 196 (98.5%) having data from the last seven years and 100% of datapoints classified as official-quality. The dataset contains 23 extreme outliers beyond the 3-sigma threshold, and average year-over-year change is 6.6%, indicating moderate volatility. The latest data year is 2024, though 2024 data is available for only 163 of 196 countries (83.2%), meaning some country values reflect earlier years.
The top of the ranking is concentrated among a mix of small, specialized economies and large industrial exporters. Puerto Rico leads at 44.1% (rank 1), a figure driven by its heavily pharmaceutical-oriented industrial base as reflected in national accounts. Liechtenstein (rank 2, 34.2%) and San Marino (rank 3, 31.8%) are small European economies with high manufacturing concentrations. Ireland ranks 4th at 29.6%, reflecting the weight of high-value pharmaceutical and chemical output in its GDP accounting. Eswatini (rank 5, 29.1%) and Cambodia (rank 6, 27.8%) represent textile and garment-oriented manufacturing in smaller developing economies. South Korea (rank 7, 26.6%) and China (rank 9, 24.9%) are the largest economies in the top ten, consistent with their roles as major goods producers. Vietnam (rank 11, 24.4%) and Thailand (rank 12, 24.3%) also appear in the upper tier, reflecting significant manufacturing sectors relative to GDP.
The middle of the ranking includes a broad range of middle-income economies with manufacturing shares between roughly 10% and 16%. Germany ranks 28th at 18.0%, below several smaller economies, which reflects how large service sectors in advanced economies can reduce manufacturing's GDP share even when absolute output is high. The United States ranks 93rd at 10.7%, and the United Kingdom places 129th at 8.0%, illustrating how dominant service economies record relatively modest manufacturing shares. India ranks 77th at 12.6%, notably lower than China (rank 9, 24.9%) despite being a large economy with substantial industrial output. At the lower end, small island and financial-hub economies cluster near the bottom: Hong Kong SAR ranks 190th at 0.93%, Macao SAR ranks 191st at 0.76%, and Bermuda ranks last at 0.33%. Haiti's placement at rank 8 with 26.2% is a notable anomaly for a low-income economy and may reflect the small size of other GDP sectors rather than a large absolute manufacturing base.
Several data limitations apply to this metric. Because the indicator expresses manufacturing as a share of GDP rather than in absolute terms, countries with small or distorted GDP denominators can appear disproportionately high or low. Puerto Rico's rank 1 position at 44.1% illustrates this: its GDP structure, heavily shaped by pharmaceutical transfer pricing within a US territory framework, produces an unusually high ratio. Similarly, small island economies near the bottom may record near-zero shares simply because they have no meaningful industrial sector rather than due to data error. The 23 extreme outliers identified at the 3-sigma threshold indicate that the data distribution is heavily skewed. Reporting reliability varies: while all 196 datapoints are classified as official, the 2024 coverage is only 83.2%, so a minority of countries are represented by data from prior years, which may not reflect recent structural changes. Cross-country comparisons should account for differences in national accounts methodology, especially regarding how value added is attributed in economies with significant intra-firm pricing, special economic zones, or informal manufacturing sectors.
Methodology
Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator NV.IND.MANF.ZS. The metric measures manufacturing value added as a percentage of GDP. Per the source definition, manufacturing includes industries classified in ISIC (Rev. 3) major division C and is defined as the physical or chemical transformation of materials or components into new products; value added is the contribution to the economy by a producer or an industry or an institutional sector, which is estimated by the total value of output produced and deducting the total value of intermediate consumption. The ranking covers 196 countries. Data year is 2024, with 83.2% of countries (163/196) reporting 2024 values and 98.5% (193/196) having data from within the last seven years. All 196 datapoints are classified as official quality (100%). The dataset contains 23 extreme outliers beyond the 3-sigma threshold, and the average year-over-year change is 6.6%. Values range from 0.33% (Bermuda, rank 196) to 44.14% (Puerto Rico, rank 1), a spread of over 13,000% between minimum and maximum.