Merchandise trade in Middle income

Middle income: Merchandise trade was 41.5% in 2025. ▲ Rising

Latest (2025)
41.5%
Change on year
up 0.9%
All-time high
53.0%
in 2008
All-time low
17.3%
in 1969
Years of data
66
1960–2025

Merchandise trade in Middle income, 1960–2025

20304050196019922025

Source: World Trade Organization (WTO). Measured in % of GDP.

Analysis

Middle income recorded 41.5% for merchandise trade in 2025.

That represents a change of up 0.9% on the previous year and up 4.7% over ten years.

Over the whole period, merchandise trade in Middle income peaked at 53.0% in 2008 and was at its lowest, 17.3%, in 1969.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1960s 18.4% 17.3% 19.8% 10
1970s 23.4% 17.8% 28.8% 10
1980s 28.7% 24.3% 33.3% 10
1990s 33.8% 29.8% 37.3% 10
2000s 47.3% 40.5% 53.0% 10
2010s 42.2% 37.0% 47.5% 10
2020s 40.9% 37.0% 44.1% 6

More private sector data for Middle income

All data for Middle income →

Frequently asked questions

What is merchandise trade in Middle income?
Merchandise trade in Middle income was 41.5% in 2025, according to World Trade Organization (WTO).
What is the highest merchandise trade recorded in Middle income?
The highest recorded value was 53.0% in 2008.
What is the lowest merchandise trade recorded in Middle income?
The lowest recorded value was 17.3% in 1969.
Is merchandise trade rising or falling in Middle income?
Over the last ten years it is up 4.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this Middle income data come from?
The figures come from World Trade Organization (WTO), published as part of Merchandise trade (% of GDP). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

About this data

Indicator
Merchandise trade (% of GDP)
Unit
% of GDP
Source
World Trade Organization (WTO)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
251 places, 14,091 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

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 indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.