Services in world trade
The majority of world trade is determined by the international exchange of goods. With increasing globalisation, but above all with increasing digitalisation, trade in services has increased significantly in recent years. In 2024, traded services accounted for 27.2% of total world trade, and in 2025, trade in services grew by approximately 5.3%. Around 70% of trade in services is dominated by developed countries. Trade in services will continue to grow in the future, mainly due to digitalisation and tourism, making it increasingly important to monitor services in world trade.
This makes it all the more important to include service sectors in the OECD's bilateral trade data, which were added with the data update in 2024. The publication of the current OECD data set on bilateral trade matrices has enabled the data set to be updated to 2023 and global trade to be expanded to include sectors from the service sector. This GWS Kurzmitteilung 4/2026 presents the new areas in global trade.
Mönnig, A. (2026): Dienstleistungen im Welthandel. GWS-Kurzmitteilung 4/2026, Osnabrück.