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Mapped: The World’s Biggest Importers in 2018

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5 years ago

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Mapped: The World's Biggest Importers

Mapped: The World’s Biggest Importers in 2018

If a country’s economy was entirely self-sufficient and independent, it wouldn’t ever need to import goods from elsewhere.

While the prospect of insulating yourself from the turbulence of global markets may sound alluring at first glance, it would come with considerable caveats, risks, and downsides.

Not only would it mean missing out on the world’s best foreign products, but it would likely translate to incredibly expensive goods domestically. Meanwhile, highly specialized products would be unavailable, and unforeseen events (natural disasters, labor strikes, droughts, etc.) would have the potential to disrupt supply chains in ways that lead to economic chaos.

For these reasons — along with many others — most economies opt to import in billions of dollars of goods each year from their international trading partners.

Which Countries Import the Most Goods?

Today’s map comes from HowMuch.net, and it resizes countries based on the value of their annual imports in 2018. The visualization is based on data from the World Trade Organization.

Let’s take a look at the 15 countries that are the world’s biggest importers:

Rank
Country
Imports (2018, $M)
Share of Global Total
#1🇺🇸 United States$2,614,32713.2%
#2🇨🇳 China$2,135,90510.8%
#3🇩🇪 Germany$1,285,6446.5%
#4🇯🇵 Japan$748,7353.8%
#5🇬🇧 United Kingdom$673,549
3.4%
#6🇫🇷 France$672,593
3.4%
#7🇳🇱 Netherlands$646,029
3.3%
#8🇭🇰 Hong Kong, China$627,517
3.2%
#9🇰🇷 Korea, Republic of$535,202
2.7%
#10🇮🇳 India$510,665
2.6%
#11🇮🇹 Italy$500,795
2.5%
#12🇲🇽 Mexico$476,569
2.4%
#13🇨🇦 Canada$469,000
2.4%
#14🇧🇪 Belgium$450,116
2.3%
#15🇪🇸 Spain$388,044
2.0%

In combination, economies around the world import a total of $19.9 trillion in goods each year.

The world’s largest single importer is the United States, with a 13.4% share of global imports equal to $2.6 trillion of goods. Following the U.S. are two other significant economies, each which import over $1 trillion in goods every year: China ($2.1 trillion), and Germany ($1.3 trillion).

Finally, it’s worth noting that if the numbers for the European Union (28) were combined into a single entity, it’d be the world’s biggest importer by far with nearly $6.5 trillion of imports.

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Mapped: Europe’s GDP Per Capita, by Country

Which European economies are richest on a GDP per capita basis? This map shows the results for 44 countries across the continent.

Published

1 day ago

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May 6, 2024

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A cropped map of GDP per capita levels for 44 European countries.

Mapped: Europe’s GDP Per Capita, by Country (2024)

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Europe is home to some of the largest and most sophisticated economies in the world. But how do countries in the region compare with each other on a per capita productivity basis?

In this map, we show Europe’s GDP per capita levels across 44 nations in current U.S. dollars. Data for this visualization and article is sourced from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) via their DataMapper tool, updated April 2024.

Europe’s Richest and Poorest Nations, By GDP Per Capita

Luxembourg, Ireland, and Switzerland, lead the list of Europe’s richest nations by GDP per capita, all above $100,000.

RankCountryGDP Per Capita (2024)
1🇱🇺 Luxembourg$131,380
2🇮🇪 Ireland$106,060
3🇨🇭 Switzerland$105,670
4🇳🇴 Norway$94,660
5🇮🇸 Iceland$84,590
6🇩🇰 Denmark$68,900
7🇳🇱 Netherlands$63,750
8🇸🇲 San Marino$59,410
9🇦🇹 Austria$59,230
10🇸🇪 Sweden$58,530
11🇧🇪 Belgium$55,540
12🇫🇮 Finland$55,130
13🇩🇪 Germany$54,290
14🇬🇧 UK$51,070
15🇫🇷 France$47,360
16🇦🇩 Andorra$44,900
17🇲🇹 Malta$41,740
18🇮🇹 Italy$39,580
19🇨🇾 Cyprus$37,150
20🇪🇸 Spain$34,050
21🇸🇮 Slovenia$34,030
22🇪🇪 Estonia$31,850
23🇨🇿 Czech Republic$29,800
24🇵🇹 Portugal$28,970
25🇱🇹 Lithuania$28,410
26🇸🇰 Slovakia$25,930
27🇱🇻 Latvia$24,190
28🇬🇷 Greece$23,970
29🇭🇺 Hungary$23,320
30🇵🇱 Poland$23,010
31🇭🇷 Croatia$22,970
32🇷🇴 Romania$19,530
33🇧🇬 Bulgaria$16,940
34🇷🇺 Russia$14,390
35🇹🇷 Türkiye$12,760
36🇲🇪 Montenegro$12,650
37🇷🇸 Serbia$12,380
38🇦🇱 Albania$8,920
39🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina$8,420
40🇲🇰 North Macedonia$7,690
41🇧🇾 Belarus$7,560
42🇲🇩 Moldova$7,490
43🇽🇰 Kosovo$6,390
44🇺🇦 Ukraine$5,660
N/A🇪🇺 EU Average$44,200

Note: Figures are rounded.

Three Nordic countries (Norway, Iceland, Denmark) also place highly, between $70,000-90,000. Other Nordic peers, Sweden and Finland rank just outside the top 10, between $55,000-60,000.

Meanwhile, Europe’s biggest economies in absolute terms, Germany, UK, and France, rank closer to the middle of the top 20, with GDP per capitas around $50,000.

Finally, at the end of the scale, Eastern Europe as a whole tends to have much lower per capita GDPs. In that group, Ukraine ranks last, at $5,660.

A Closer Look at Ukraine

For a broader comparison, Ukraine’s per capita GDP is similar to Iran ($5,310), El Salvador ($5,540), and Guatemala ($5,680).

According to experts, Ukraine’s economy has historically underperformed to expectations. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the economy contracted for five straight years. Its transition to a Western, liberalized economic structure was overshadowed by widespread corruption, a limited taxpool, and few revenue sources.

Politically, its transformation from authoritarian regime to civil democracy has proved difficult, especially when it comes to institution building.

Finally, after the 2022 invasion of the country, Ukraine’s GDP contracted by 30% in a single year—the largest loss since independence. Large scale emigration—to the tune of six million refugees—is also playing a role.

Despite these challenges, the country’s economic growth has somewhat stabilized while fighting continues.

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