Countries by Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports)

Ranking 2023

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric measures the share of a country's total merchandise imports that originate from high-income economies as classified by the World Bank. The source defines it as follows: 'Merchandise imports from high-income economies are the sum of merchandise imports by the reporting economy from high-income economies according to the World Bank classification of economies. Data are expressed as a percentage of total merchandise imports by the economy. Data are computed only if at least half of the economies in the partner country group had non-missing data.' The unit is percentage of total merchandise imports, and the metric covers only merchandise trade — services imports are excluded. The 2023 dataset covers 205 countries, all of which provided data from within the last seven years, and 100% of data points are classified as official. No extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and average year-over-year change was 6.4%, well within the 50% volatility threshold.

The top of the ranking is dominated by small territories and European economies with deep ties to other high-income markets. Greenland leads at 98.35% (rank 1), followed by Luxembourg at 97.15% (rank 2) and Bermuda at 96.63% (rank 3). European Union members are heavily represented: Estonia ranks 8th at 91.94%, Lithuania 9th at 90.84%, Latvia 10th at 90.66%, and the Slovak Republic 11th at 90.08%. These high values reflect the structure of intra-EU and intra-OECD trade, where neighboring high-income countries account for the bulk of import flows. Finland (rank 12, 89.84%), Austria (rank 14, 89.31%), and Sweden (rank 16, 88.79%) follow closely.

The middle of the ranking shows more variation. China ranks 74th at 68.06%, the United States ranks 126th at 52.52%, and Japan ranks 107th at 57.73%. The United States placing outside the top 100 — despite being a high-income economy itself — reflects its significant import flows from non-high-income partners. Notable lower-ranked countries include Russia (rank 191, 22.00%), Cambodia (rank 193, 17.64%), Nepal (rank 199, 12.63%), and Eswatini (rank 200, 10.82%). Southern African nations cluster near the bottom, with Botswana at rank 201 (9.30%), Zimbabwe at rank 202 (8.71%), Lesotho at rank 203 (5.79%), and Bhutan at rank 204 (4.90%), reflecting trade dependency on regional non-high-income partners. North Korea sits last at rank 205 with just 0.18%.

Several limitations apply to this metric. It captures the origin of merchandise imports by economy classification, not by product type or trade relationship depth. Countries that import largely from regional neighbors classified as middle- or low-income will score lower regardless of other trade characteristics. The computation rule — requiring at least half of partner-country economies to have non-missing data — can introduce gaps for countries with highly concentrated or poorly reported trade flows. Small territories with limited and well-documented trading relationships (such as Greenland or Bermuda) may naturally score very high simply due to geographic and administrative ties to specific high-income economies. Rankings should be interpreted alongside total import volumes, as a high percentage from high-income economies in a country with very low total imports may reflect structural dependency rather than economic breadth.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code TM.VAL.MRCH.HI.ZS, for the reference year 2023. The metric is defined as: 'Merchandise imports from high-income economies are the sum of merchandise imports by the reporting economy from high-income economies according to the World Bank classification of economies. Data are expressed as a percentage of total merchandise imports by the economy. Data are computed only if at least half of the economies in the partner country group had non-missing data.' The unit is percent. Coverage spans 205 countries, all with data from within the last seven years (100% recency). All 205 data points are classified as official quality. No extreme outliers were found at the 3-standard-deviation threshold. Year-over-year volatility averaged 6.4%. Values range from 0.18% (North Korea, rank 205) to 98.35% (Greenland, rank 1), a spread of over 54,000%. Services trade is excluded. Economy classifications follow World Bank income group definitions applicable to the data year.

Sources

• World Bank