Exports as a percentage of GDP
1. What does this benchmark show?
This benchmark shows a country’s total export of goods and services as a percentage of GDP.
The export share of a country indicates the degree to which the country takes part in the international division of labour. Small countries typically have a higher share of exports than larger
countries because the domestic market is too small to support highly specialised production.
2. Why is this benchmark of relevance to a country’s international competitiveness?
This benchmark shows how much of the income of the economy that is generated by trading in
foreign markets and is a good indication of the degree of openness towards the rest of the
world.
3. Source and methodology
The data is extracted from OECD’s Economic Outlook No. 90. OECD has collected data from
secondary sources. Data from all countries is obtained from reported exports by the exporting
companies that submit the amount exported to the respective national statistical agency. The
GDP series is taken from the National Accounts also computed by the national statistical
agency. Ultimately it is the national statistical agencies that are responsible for collecting and
reporting the national data.
Two different data series is used to compute exports as a percentage of GDP, these series are
“Gross Domestic Product, value, market prices” and “Exports of Goods and Services, value, National Account basis”.
Data is retrieved from the table “Economic Outlook No 90 – December 2011 OECD Annual Projections“. The data used is partially a forecast because data is not available for the entire year at
the moment of release for the Economic Outlook. Hence the values are estimated on the basis
of the data available when the report is made.
For some countries it is possible to have a total export which exceeds GDP. This will happen if
they have a large import which to a limited extent is processed and then sold as export. Ultimately exports should be measured as a percentage of production, but since this measure is
rarely available, export as a percentage of GDP is a common used measure.
Source: OECD, Economic Outlook No. 90.
Economic Outlook No. 90