In second place were European countries trailed by suppliers in North America, Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Africa, then Oceania led by Australia and New Zealand.
Below are key metric for exporting entities at the continent level. Continents are presented in descending order starting with the highest dollar value for global shipments during 2023.
Also shown is each continent’s percentage value compared to the worldwide total.
- Asia: US$9.66 trillion (41.5% of globally exported products)
- Europe: $8.594 trillion (36.9%)
- North America: $3.181 trillion (13.7%)
- Latin America (plus Caribbean minus Mexico): $803.6 billion (3.5%)
- Africa: $614.6 billion (2.6%)
- Oceania: $430.7 billion (2.3%)
The world’s exported products increased in total value by 24.1% compared to $18.762 trillion 5 years earlier in 2019.
The fastest-growing continents from 2019 to 2023 were Oceania (up 58%), Asia (up 30.8%), Africa (up 30.7%) then Latin America (up 29.5%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Year over year, global exports depreciated by -5.8% from $24.72 trillion during 2022.
Continental-specific declines year over year were experienced by exporters in Africa (down -10% from 2022), Oceania (down -8.6%), Latin America (down -3.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, then North America (down -1.8%).
Ranking of Continents by Exported Goods per Capita
When it comes to the value of exported products proportioned based on each continent’s population count for 2023, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better.
Case in point: Europe’s population of 745.1 million people falls far short of Asia’s population of 4.75 billion. Nevertheless, exports per capita for Europe equaled US$11,535 per person easily surpassing the $2,035 per person for the much more heavily populated Asian continent.
The following list shows the average value of continental exports per person. The population for each continent as of July 2023 is shown within parentheses.
- Europe: US$11,535 in exports per capita (745.1 million residents)
- Oceania: $9,590 (44.9 million residents)
- North America: $8,474 (375.3 million residents)
- Asia: $2,035 (4.75 billion residents)
- Latin America (plus Caribbean): $1,231 (652.8 million residents)
- Africa: $422 (1.45 billion residents)
Africa is the second-most populous continent behind only Asia. Nevertheless, continental Africa sells by far the smallest value in terms of exports per capita.
Even though the African population is more than twice than that for Latin America including the Caribbean, the Latin American score for exports per capita is nearly three times higher than for the much more populated African continent.
Another root cause for the stark differences in the average value of exports per capita comes down to the predominant types of products that each continent ships. For instance, the most valuable exported for Europe is cars which generates a much higher per-unit cost compared to electronic circuits for Asia, iron ores and concentrates for Oceania, and crude oil for North America, Latin America and Africa.
See also Major Exports by Continent, Top African Export Countries, Top Oceanian Export Countries and Top South American Export Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, Population statistics by country. Accessed on November 13, 2024
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on November 13, 2024
Statista, Distribution of the global population 2023 by continent. Accessed on November 13, 2024
Trade Map, International Trade Centre, www.intracen.org/marketanalysis. Accessed on November 13, 2024
Wikipedia, List of countries and dependencies by population. Accessed on November 13, 2024