Facts and figures

Geneva, 2 April 2008 —

World Economy

• World gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an average rate of 3% a year between 2000 and 2006, and world trade in goods by 6.6%.
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• DP per capita in developing countries increased by almost 30% between 2003 and 2007, compared with 10% for the Group of Seven (G-7) highly industrialized countries.
• The recent phase of globalization has resulted in wider distribution of gains, with real GDP per capita in developing countries increasing from US$812 in 1980 to US$1621 in 2006.
• In the economies in transition of South-East Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), per capita income has risen by almost 75% since the beginning of the Millennium, but this recovery came after such a deep recession that per capita GDP in these economies remains below its level of 1989.
• Despite improvements, the relative gap in living standards between developed and developing countries remains large. In 2006, the per capita income of developed countries was 18 times that of developing countries. In 1980, it was 23 times higher. The recent progress mainly reflects rapid economic advances in East and South Asia.
• In the last 5 years, annual economic growth in African countries has averaged between 5 and 6%. However, the difference in average income between Europe and Africa continues to increase. GDP per capita was US$1160 in Africa in 2006, US$914 in Sub-Saharan Africa and US$31,622 in Europe.

World Trade

• Strong economic growth in developing countries has been fuelled by increased export revenues. Real exports of these countries more than doubled between 1998 and 2006, whereas those of the G-7 rose by less than 50%. East and South Asia registered the biggest expansion, with exports (in volume terms) increasing by about 160% between 1998 and 2006.Overall, the share of developing countries in global trade rose from 29% in 1996 to 37% in 2006. Africa´s share of global exports declined from 6% in 1980 to 3% in 2006.

Maritime Transport

• Global economic growth and growing demand from Asia boosted international maritime trade to 7.4 billion tons (goods loaded) in 2006, an increase of 4.3% from a year earlier.
• In 2006, the total world merchant fleet exceeded 1 billion deadweight tons (dwt) for the first time, expanding by an impressive 8.6% compared with 2005. Over one-third of seaborne merchandise is currently made up of crude oil and petroleum products.
• In 2006, developing countries controlled about 31% of world dwt, developed market economies close to 66%, and economies in transition about 3%.

South-South Trade

• South-South merchandise trade has increased spectacularly during the past decade, from US$580 billion in 1995 to over US$2 trillion in 2006.
• In 2006, South-South trade accounted for 17% of world trade and 46% of developing countries’ total merchandise trade. South-East Asia accounted for 72% of the total value of trade between developing countries in 2006.
• Manufacturing represented almost half of South-South trade in 2006.
• Twenty-eight percent of exports from Africa were to developing countries in 2006.

Commodities

• More than 2 billion people in the developing world – over a third of humanity – make their living from agricultural commodities.
• In least developed countries (LDCs), one out of four people lives and works in a rural area. Most are small farmers or landless workers.
• Eighty-five developing countries depend on commodities for more than half their export earnings. Thirty-eight developing countries depend on one agricultural product for more than 50% of their export revenues; 48 countries are dependent on two agricultural export products.
• In January 2008, UNCTAD´s price index for non-fuel commodities reached its highest level (in current dollars) since 1960. The index is up 109% since 1992. Metal and mineral prices rose by 217% during the same period, and agricultural raw materials prices increased by 67%.
• In real terms, however, the commodities index is still low compared to levels attained in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

• Global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows totalled US$1,306 billion in 2006, rising more than 38% from 2005 and nearly reaching the record level of 2000.
• The stock of FDI worldwide reached US$12 trillion in 2006, reflecting the activities of some 78,000 transnational corporations (TNCs) worldwide which own some 780,000 foreign affiliates.
• While FDI inflows to developed countries rose by 45% to reach $857 billion in 2006, flows to developing countries and those with economies in transition attained their highest levels ever: $379 billion (a 21% increase over 2005) and $69 billion (a 68% increase), respectively.
• FDI into Africa doubled between 2004 and 2006 to a record US$36 billion, spurred by the search for primary resources, increased profits and a generally improved business climate.
• Despite these increases, Africa´s share of global FDI declined to 2.7% in 2006 from 3.1% in 2005.
• Total FDI inflows to African LDCs rose four-fold from an annual average of US$1.8 billion in the 1990s to $6.5 billion for the period 2000-05. This increase was due to more favourable treatment of foreign investors by African governments and the worldwide race for new supplies of natural resources.

Debt

• In 2006, the external debt of developing countries as a share of GDP decreased to 25% from 29% in 2005. Helped in some cases by debt-relief measures, these countries reduced their sovereign external debt with both official and private creditors.
• In 1996, only 20% of long-term external debt in these nations was owed by private borrowers. By 2006, that share had doubled to 41%.
• While official development assistance (ODA) has increased marginally, it still falls short of the pledge by the Group of Eight industrialized countries to double aid to Africa by 2010.
• Despite individual exceptions, donor countries as a group still commit less than the agreed target of 0.7% of their gross national product to ODA.

Migrant Workers´ Remittances

• In some developing countries, remittances from nationals working overseas exceed the amounts received in official development assistance and in foreign direct investment. These remittances also represent a more stable source of revenue.
• In 2005, remittances yielded US$7 billion for Asian LDCs, more than double the amount of official development assistance (US$3 billion). For LDCs as a whole, remittances represent approximately two-thirds of total annual ODA (US$18 billion).
• For some African countries, immigrants´ remittances are also an important source of financing for development. An official census of these remittances revealed a figure of about US$16 billion in 2004, two-thirds of which went to North Africa.

Productivity in LDCs

• In 2000-2003, it took five workers in an LDC to match the output of one worker in a typical developing country, and it took 94 workers in an LDC to match the value produced by one worker in a developed country. There are only 94.3 scientific researchers per million people in LDCs, compared to 313 in the other developing countries and 3,728 in industrialized countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
• Five LDCs – Haiti, Cape Verde, Samoa, Gambia and Somalia – have lost more than half of their university-educated professionals in recent years because they have moved to industrialized countries in search of better working and living conditions.

Creative Industries

• International trade in creative goods and services surged to US$445.2 billion in 2005 from US$234.8 billion in 1996. The creative economy had an average growth rate of 8.7% a year between 2000 and 2005.
• Although developed countries continue to dominate the global market for creative products, exports from developing countries are gaining ground, rising to US$136.2 billion in 2005 from US$55.9 billion in 1996.