Total trade in services

After the pandemic-driven decline of 17.7 per cent in 2020, world services exports entered a recovery path in 2021. Growth in services exports of 14.6 per cent is nowcast for 2022. This would mean a new record high of US$7 trillion.

In 2021, global services exports were valued at US$6.1 trillion, representing 6.3 per cent of world GDPgross domestic product and 21.4 per cent of total world trade in both goods and services. After the plunge of travel and transport during the pandemic in 2020, international services flows recovered in 2021 and almost reached their 2019 levels.

In 2021, the services exports’ share in GDP exceeded 30 per cent in 22 economies. Those are either small islands where travel exports are important, or other small economies with significant business and financial services exports. Notably, Luxembourg and Malta recorded services exports at 165 and 110 per cent of GDP, respectively.

Looking at the trends by development status and region, a solid recovery of services exports was observed in all groups of economies. The highest relative rise was measured in American developing economies, where travel and transport have held a prominent role and had more ground to recover after the pandemic. Asian developing economies’ growth was less driven by recovery in travel, but rather by a significant rise in transport exports, as well as in intellectual property, insurance, and business services that those economies supplied abroad.

With US$795 billion worth of services sold internationally in 2021, the United States of America remained the world’s leading exporter, capturing a 13 per cent share of the global market. It was followed, at some distance, by the United Kingdom (US$418 billion). China, the leading exporter among developing economies, ranked third (US$392 billion). The top five services exporters from the developing world were Asian. In 2021, they captured 17 per cent of the global market.