English: According to the latest trade statistics from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators, the sum of exports and imports across countries amounted to 63% of global GDP in 2022, the most recent year available.

This metric, also known as the trade openness index, represents the ratio of total trade (exports plus imports) to global output. The higher this ratio, the greater the influence of international trade transactions on global economic activity.

The chart shows the trade openness trend since 1970. After a decade of ups and downs, with a noticeable dip in 2020, trade rebounded above pre-pandemic levels in 2022.

In fact, from a long-run perspective, the 63% observed in 2022 was historically unprecedented.

Economic historians estimate that in 1912, at the peak of the “first wave of globalization”, the trade openness index reached 30%. Global trade declined substantially during the First and Second World Wars, then increased again with the onset of the “second wave of globalization”, exceeding 50% of GDP at the beginning of the 21st century.

The fact that global trade openness was higher in 2022 than ever before may seem surprising, given that several countries that followed different trajectories received considerable attention in the media. For example, imports and exports peaked at 65% of GDP in China in 2006 but have since declined to 38% in 2022.