International trade

All main service categories witnessed a solid expansion in 2024 compared to the previous year. Still recovering from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, travel registered the highest annual growth rate among the main categories of services exported (+13.6%). International transport sales recovered from the previous year's slowdown (+8.3% in 2024). Telecommunications, computer, and information services experienced another year of genuine strong growth (11.1%), riding on rising demand for new technologies. Exports of financial, insurance, and intellectual-property-related services and of other business services gained 9.3% in 2024, as digitally tradable products corresponding to these service categories have become ever more demanded globally.

In 2024, international trade in digitally deliverable products continued increasing strongly, marking a 10% annual rise. Three quarters of their exports, worth about $3 779 billion, originated from developed economies, while the developing world exported an estimated $1 169 billion in 2024. Developed economies' exports rose by 10.5%, while those of developing economies registered somewhat slower albeit still significant growth of 8.2%. Among developing economies, the gap between a relatively small number of more successful exporters and others that struggle to increase their market share has widened.

Digitally delivered international trade has been on a sustained rise since 2010, further boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Digitally deliverable trade covers products that can be delivered remotely over computer networks. All digitally delivered products are services, according to international trade measurement standards.

Travel and transport remain the categories of services exported most by African and American developing economies, accounting for 60% and 59% of their services sold abroad, respectively. Developing economies in Asia are diversifying their services trade expanding especially into knowledge-intensive services, in 2024 already accounting for almost a half of their services exports. Knowledge-intensive services comprise insurance, financial, telecommunication, computer, information, and other business services, as well as intellectual property charges. These - mostly digitally tradable - products represent over 60% of services exported from developed economies.

UNCTAD's statistics indicate that developing economies captured 30% global services exports in 2024, a significant improvement compared to 21% recorded for 2005. Most of these additional market shares were won by Asian exporters.