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Growth of global trade

See all data and research on:
Trade & Globalization
Data sources and processing
Insights about this data
Data sources and processingRelated articlesRelated charts
Insights about this dataRelated articlesRelated charts

What you should know about this indicator

  • One of the defining developments of the past two centuries has been the increasing integration of national economies into a single global system. This indicator illustrates the expansion of trade and the growing interconnectedness of the world economy since 1800.
  • It shows the volume of world trade, measuring the goods exchanged across national borders. To compare trade over time, researchers construct an index that averages exports and imports and set a baseline year (here, 1800 = 1) to track how global trade has evolved.
  • The historical component is based on Federico & Tena-Junguito (2016), who compiled trade statistics from hundreds of historical sources covering nearly every country and colony from 1800 to 1938, adjusting all estimates to 1913 borders. Their original index was expressed relative to 1913 = 100; here, we have re-indexed it so that 1800 = 1.
  • Because definitions varied, the researchers standardized the historical data to modern UN conventions: smuggling, re-exports, transit trade, and bullion were excluded; fiscal years were aligned with calendar years; imports were valued including freight, and exports excluding it. Researchers used detailed price indexes to correct for inflation and shipping costs.
  • From 1950 onwards, we extend the series using data from the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO index was originally set to 1950 = 100, and we rescaled it to align with the historical series so that all data are expressed on the same 1800 = 1 scale. This allows us to present a consistent long-run view of world trade growth from 1800 to the present.
Growth of global trade
World trade index, based on the average of exports and imports values, adjusted for inflation (1800 = 1).
Source
World Trade Organization (2024); Federico and Tena-Junguito (2016) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
September 22, 2025
Next expected update
September 2026
Date range
1800–2024
Unit
index 1800=1

Related research and writing

A dark blue background with a lighter blue world map superimposed over it. Yellow text that says Trade and Globalization by Our World in Data

Trade and Globalization

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Diana Beltekian, and Max Roser

Is globalization an engine of economic development?

Esteban Ortiz-Ospina

What you should know about this indicator

  • One of the defining developments of the past two centuries has been the increasing integration of national economies into a single global system. This indicator illustrates the expansion of trade and the growing interconnectedness of the world economy since 1800.
  • It shows the volume of world trade, measuring the goods exchanged across national borders. To compare trade over time, researchers construct an index that averages exports and imports and set a baseline year (here, 1800 = 1) to track how global trade has evolved.
  • The historical component is based on Federico & Tena-Junguito (2016), who compiled trade statistics from hundreds of historical sources covering nearly every country and colony from 1800 to 1938, adjusting all estimates to 1913 borders. Their original index was expressed relative to 1913 = 100; here, we have re-indexed it so that 1800 = 1.
  • Because definitions varied, the researchers standardized the historical data to modern UN conventions: smuggling, re-exports, transit trade, and bullion were excluded; fiscal years were aligned with calendar years; imports were valued including freight, and exports excluding it. Researchers used detailed price indexes to correct for inflation and shipping costs.
  • From 1950 onwards, we extend the series using data from the World Trade Organization (WTO). The WTO index was originally set to 1950 = 100, and we rescaled it to align with the historical series so that all data are expressed on the same 1800 = 1 scale. This allows us to present a consistent long-run view of world trade growth from 1800 to the present.
Growth of global trade
World trade index, based on the average of exports and imports values, adjusted for inflation (1800 = 1).
Source
World Trade Organization (2024); Federico and Tena-Junguito (2016) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
September 22, 2025
Next expected update
September 2026
Date range
1800–2024
Unit
index 1800=1

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

World Trade Organization – Evolution of trade under the WTO: handy statistics

The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.

Retrieved on
September 23, 2025
Retrieved from
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_evolution_e/evolution_trade_wto_e.htm#fnt-1
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Trade Organization. Evolution of trade under the WTO: handy statistics. Retrieved from https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_evolution_e/evolution_trade_wto_e.htm (Accessed: 23 Sept 2025).

The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.

Retrieved on
September 23, 2025
Retrieved from
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_evolution_e/evolution_trade_wto_e.htm#fnt-1
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
World Trade Organization. Evolution of trade under the WTO: handy statistics. Retrieved from https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_evolution_e/evolution_trade_wto_e.htm (Accessed: 23 Sept 2025).

Federico and Tena-Junguito – A tale of two globalizations: gains from trade and openness 1800–2010

This paper compares the waves of globalization before the outbreak of the Great Recession in 2007 with its alleged historical antecedent before the outbreak of World War One. We describe trends in trade and openness, investigate the proximate causes of changes in openness and estimate the gains from trade from the early nineteenth century onwards. Our results suggest that the conventional wisdom has to be revised. The first wave of globalization started around 1820 and culminated around 1870. In the next century, trade continued to grow, with the exception of the Great Depression, but openness and gains fluctuated widely. They resumed a clear upward trend from the early 1970s. By 2007, the world was more open than a century earlier and its inhabitants gained from trade substantially more than their ancestors did.

Retrieved on
September 22, 2025
Retrieved from
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10290-017-0279-z
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Federico, G., & Tena-Junguito, A. (2016). A tale of two globalizations: Gains from trade and openness 1800–2010 (Working Papers in Economic History No. 16-02).

This paper compares the waves of globalization before the outbreak of the Great Recession in 2007 with its alleged historical antecedent before the outbreak of World War One. We describe trends in trade and openness, investigate the proximate causes of changes in openness and estimate the gains from trade from the early nineteenth century onwards. Our results suggest that the conventional wisdom has to be revised. The first wave of globalization started around 1820 and culminated around 1870. In the next century, trade continued to grow, with the exception of the Great Depression, but openness and gains fluctuated widely. They resumed a clear upward trend from the early 1970s. By 2007, the world was more open than a century earlier and its inhabitants gained from trade substantially more than their ancestors did.

Retrieved on
September 22, 2025
Retrieved from
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10290-017-0279-z
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Federico, G., & Tena-Junguito, A. (2016). A tale of two globalizations: Gains from trade and openness 1800–2010 (Working Papers in Economic History No. 16-02).

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline
Notes on our processing step for this indicator

We combined historical trade data from Federico & Tena-Junguito (2016) (up to 1950) with World Trade Organization (WTO) data (from 1951 onwards). We re-indexed the Federico & Tena-Junguito series, originally expressed relative to 1913 = 100, so that 1800 = 1. We then rescaled the WTO index, originally set to 1950 = 100, using the 1950 overlap to align it with this 1800 = 1 scale. This ensures both series are presented consistently on the same baseline.

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
  • All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.

Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Growth of global trade”, part of the following publication: Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, Diana Beltekian, and Max Roser (2018) - “Trade and Globalization”. Data adapted from World Trade Organization, Federico and Tena-Junguito. Retrieved from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20251104-122843/grapher/growth-of-global-trade.html [online resource] (archived on November 4, 2025).

How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

World Trade Organization (2024); Federico and Tena-Junguito (2016) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

World Trade Organization (2024); Federico and Tena-Junguito (2016) – processed by Our World in Data. “Growth of global trade” [dataset]. World Trade Organization, “Evolution of trade under the WTO: handy statistics”; Federico and Tena-Junguito, “A tale of two globalizations: gains from trade and openness 1800–2010” [original data]. Retrieved November 4, 2025 from https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20251104-122843/grapher/growth-of-global-trade.html (archived on November 4, 2025).