World Trade Indicators 2008

Welcome to the World Trade Indicators (WTI), an interactive tool launched in June 2008, designed to benchmark a country’s trade policy and institutions and help policy makers, advisors, and analysts’ identify the main border and behind-the border constraints to trade integration.

The WTI 2008 database and the country Trade-At-A-Glance (TAAG) tables (last updated in December 2008) are organized in five thematic categories, namely Trade Policy, External Environment, Institutional Environment, Trade Facilitation and Trade Outcome. Each category contains a main indicator and other reference indicators. Countries’ trade performance can be examined individually as well as in relation to other countries or country groupings, including by membership of trade agreements. The updated User Guide provides descriptions for the 305 indicators available for download in the database, including data sources.

Reflecting the June database, Country Briefs capture the key insights from both the indicators and country-level trade-related analytical work, and an overview report summarizes the global patterns in trade policy and trade outcomes focusing mainly on regional and income level variations. Country Briefs and the overview report are scheduled to be updated by September 2009, in conjunction with the WTI 2009 launch.

The following five tabs are available to explore the database with a choice to view indicators either by value or by rank.  Click here for more details >>

• The Country Ranking tab displays a ranked list of countries for any one time period, for five indicators. Users can choose (up to five) alternative indicators in one or all categories, a sub-set of countries, and any time period.
• The Country Snapshot tab displays a table of indicators for four time periods for a specific country and two comparators, one of which is the region to which the country belongs. Users can select any number of indicators, four time periods, and the second comparator country or country group.
• In the Country Comparison tab charts and tables are displayed for up to five indicators for one time period and for up to ten countries or country groups, including up to two user-defined country groups.
• In the Overtime Comparison tab a user can view, in chart and table format, the evolution of one indicator for up to ten countries or country groups, including up to two user defined country groups, and some pre-determined comparator countries.
• The Map tab provides a color-coded world map showing relative country performance for one indicator and for one time period, both selected by the user.

Related and additional data not available in the World Trade Indicators database can be found at the websites for the World Trade Organization, the International Trade Centre, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

For any questions or comments regarding the World Trade Indicators, please contact:

Last updated on Apr 9, 2009