Countries by Merchandise trade (% of GDP)

Hong Kong SAR, China leads all 205 countries with merchandise trade at 331.7% of GDP, meaning the combined value of goods imports and exports is more than three times the size of its entire economy. At the other end, Cuba records just 8.3%, producing a gap of more than 323 percentage points. That spread reflects the wide variation in how deeply national economies are integrated into global goods trade.

Trade category

Ranking 2024

Values shown in %.

Countries by Merchandise trade (% of GDP)
Rank	Country	%
1	Hong Kong	331.73
2	Djibouti	258.06
3	Slovenia	223.91
4	United Arab Emirates	207.76
5	Singapore	176.17
6	Vietnam	164.85
7	Slovakia	162.20
8	Belgium	156.42
9	Malaysia	149.39
10	Saint Martin (French part)	145.56
11	Czechia	142.95
12	Netherlands	142.83
13	Hungary	137.42
14	Lesotho	125.32
15	Brunei	120.84
16	North Macedonia	120.27
17	Cambodia	119.43
18	American Samoa	117.68
19	Kiribati	116.61
20	Armenia	116.20
21	Namibia	115.36
22	Thailand	115.35
23	Mongolia	115.14
24	Belarus	113.25
25	Laos	109.37
26	Guyana	107.93
27	Latvia	101.64
28	Micronesia	101.18
29	Lithuania	99.52
30	Oman	99.39
31	Libya	98.10
32	Nicaragua	96.43
33	Estonia	95.68
34	Seychelles	92.38
35	Kyrgyzstan	91.78
36	Eswatini	90.54
37	Tunisia	89.55
38	Bulgaria	88.59
39	Zambia	88.49
40	Switzerland	87.13
41	Bahrain	84.67
42	Bosnia and Herzegovina	83.53
43	Republic of Congo	83.19
44	Poland	82.74
45	Mauritania	82.14
46	Serbia	81.95
47	Gabon	81.84
48	Sint Maarten (Dutch part)	81.54
49	Lebanon	81.20
50	Faroe Islands	80.60
51	Austria	79.64
52	DR Congo	79.62
53	Solomon Islands	78.66
54	Honduras	77.74
55	Croatia	77.24
56	Mozambique	76.59
57	Jordan	75.35
58	Morocco	75.29
59	Gambia	73.56
60	Suriname	71.61
61	Curaçao	71.55
62	Fiji	70.86
63	Kuwait	70.56
64	South Korea	70.14
65	Moldova	69.34
66	Cabo Verde	68.87
67	Georgia	68.58
68	Mexico	67.93
69	Iraq	67.37
70	Germany	66.23
71	Bhutan	65.59
72	Rwanda	64.76
73	Portugal	64.49
74	Azerbaijan	64.07
75	Sweden	63.76
76	El Salvador	63.40
77	Paraguay	63.18
78	Ireland	63.16
79	Tajikistan	63.06
80	Guinea	62.89
81	Liberia	62.16
82	Romania	61.88
83	Mauritius	61.66
84	Montenegro	61.23
85	Botswana	60.96
86	Trinidad and Tobago	60.73
87	Belize	60.46
88	Denmark	60.32
89	Nauru	59.66
90	Qatar	59.36
91	Greenland	59.19
92	South Africa	58.22
93	Ukraine	58.14
94	Maldives	56.93
95	Greece	56.90
96	Marshall Islands	56.88
97	Papua New Guinea	56.86
98	Andorra	56.71
99	Timor-Leste	56.44
100	Vanuatu	56.44
101	Chile	55.54
102	Senegal	55.51
103	Norway	55.36
104	Italy	54.18
105	Angola	53.64
106	Finland	53.13
107	Malta	53.03
108	Burkina Faso	52.19
109	Spain	51.93
110	Sierra Leone	51.41
111	Ecuador	51.26
112	Canada	50.94
113	Northern Mariana Islands	50.55
114	Costa Rica	50.52
115	Iceland	50.35
116	Albania	50.33
117	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	48.65
118	Kazakhstan	48.58
119	Grenada	48.55
120	Togo	47.92
121	Uzbekistan	47.82
122	Cyprus	47.15
123	Tonga	46.95
124	Mali	46.87
125	Panama	46.08
126	Samoa	45.16
127	Philippines	45.03
128	Syria	44.87
129	Türkiye	44.57
130	Peru	44.32
131	Luxembourg	44.28
132	France	43.96
133	Saudi Arabia	43.42
134	Palau	43.12
135	Ghana	43.08
136	Somalia	42.82
137	Côte d'Ivoire	42.57
138	Madagascar	42.56
139	Dominica	42.24
140	Benin	41.90
141	Guatemala	41.60
142	Jamaica	41.59
143	Saint Lucia	41.43
144	New Caledonia	41.09
145	Uganda	40.99
146	Zimbabwe	40.76
147	Tuvalu	40.14
148	Burundi	38.83
149	Antigua and Barbuda	38.77
150	French Polynesia	38.74
151	Aruba	38.61
152	Iran	38.29
153	Nigeria	37.49
154	Malawi	37.21
155	Myanmar	36.96
156	Australia	36.26
157	United Kingdom	36.04
158	Japan	36.01
159	Macao	35.76
160	Indonesia	35.69
161	Saint Kitts and Nevis	35.55
162	Bahamas	35.46
163	Equatorial Guinea	35.22
164	Algeria	35.19
165	Dominican Republic	35.15
166	Barbados	34.88
167	Bolivia	34.55
168	New Zealand	34.27
169	Chad	33.81
170	Russia	33.73
171	Guinea-Bissau	33.04
172	Egypt	32.96
173	China	32.87
174	Sri Lanka	31.95
175	South Sudan	31.92
176	Nepal	31.77
177	Turkmenistan	31.54
178	Eritrea	30.90
179	India	29.69
180	Tanzania	29.15
181	Israel	28.46
182	Brazil	28.14
183	Uruguay	28.11
184	Colombia	27.14
185	Comoros	26.93
186	Cameroon	26.46
187	Turks and Caicos Islands	26.07
188	Cayman Islands	26.06
189	Bangladesh	25.58
190	Venezuela	24.39
191	Yemen	24.03
192	Pakistan	23.89
193	Central African Republic	23.77
194	Kenya	23.54
195	Niger	22.59
196	Sao Tome and Principe	22.14
197	Argentina	22.01
198	Afghanistan	21.42
199	United States	18.87
200	Guam	18.42
201	Ethiopia	17.36
202	Sudan	16.20
203	Haiti	14.85
204	Bermuda	14.50
205	Cuba	8.32

Analysis

Merchandise trade as a share of GDP measures the combined value of a country's goods exports and goods imports relative to the size of its economy, expressed as a percentage. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code TG.VAL.TOTL.GD.ZS), 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 ranking covers 205 countries using data from 2024. Coverage is strong: 204 of 205 countries (99.5%) have data from the last seven years, 100% of data points are classified as official, and 196 of 205 countries (95.6%) have data from the latest year. The viability check identified 32 extreme outliers at the 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the range spans from 8.3% to 331.7%, a spread of 3,886.5%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by small, trade-intensive economies. Hong Kong SAR, China ranks 1st at 331.7%, reflecting its role as a major re-export hub where goods flow through far exceeding domestic output. Djibouti ranks 2nd at 258.1%, and Slovenia ranks 3rd at 223.9%. The United Arab Emirates (4th, 207.8%) and Singapore (5th, 176.2%) also exceed 100% by wide margins. Several Central and Eastern European economies appear high on the list: the Slovak Republic (7th, 162.2%), Belgium (8th, 156.4%), Czechia (11th, 143.0%), Netherlands (12th, 142.8%), and Hungary (13th, 137.4%) all rank in the top 15. Viet Nam (6th, 164.9%) and Malaysia (9th, 149.4%) represent Southeast Asia among the leaders. Values above 100% occur when trade volumes are amplified by transit, processing, or re-export activity relative to a smaller GDP base.

In the middle of the ranking, large advanced economies cluster well below smaller trading nations. Germany ranks 70th at 66.2%, South Africa 92nd at 58.2%, and France 132nd at 44.0%. The United States ranks 199th at 18.9%, reflecting that its large domestic economy absorbs much of its own production. A notable anomaly is Lesotho at rank 14 with 125.3%, placing it above countries like Thailand (22nd, 115.4%) and Korea (64th, 70.1%). Djibouti's 2nd-place ranking at 258.1% stands out given its population size and GDP level. At the bottom, Haiti ranks 203rd at 14.9%, Bermuda 204th at 14.5%, and Cuba 205th at 8.3%. Large economies such as Brazil (182nd, 28.1%), India (179th, 29.7%), and China (173rd, 32.9%) rank in the lower half, as high absolute trade volumes are divided by very large GDPs.

This metric has several important limitations. Because values are expressed as a share of GDP, countries with small economies can record very high percentages even when absolute trade volumes are modest. Re-export hubs such as Hong Kong and Djibouti inflate the numerator with goods that may not originate in or be consumed by that economy. The metric also excludes services trade, non-monetary gold, and goods under merchanting, meaning it does not capture the full picture of a country's external economic integration. Reporting quality varies: while 100% of data points here are classified as official, some economies with limited statistical capacity may have less precise trade or GDP figures. Data for some countries is from years prior to 2024, and 9 of 205 countries lack data from the latest reference year, which can affect cross-country comparisons.

Methodology

Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code TG.VAL.TOTL.GD.ZS, reference year 2024. The definition used is taken directly from the source note: 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. The unit is percentage of GDP; higher values indicate greater merchandise trade intensity relative to economic output. This ranking covers 205 countries. Coverage: 204 of 205 countries (99.5%) have data from the last seven years. Data quality: 100% of data points are classified as official. Latest-year consistency: 196 of 205 countries (95.6%) have 2024 data. The viability check identified 32 extreme outliers using a 3-standard-deviation threshold. The value range spans 8.3% (Cuba) to 331.7% (Hong Kong SAR, China), a spread of 3,886.5%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 10.3%.

Sources

World Bank