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 2022.
Also shown is each continent’s percentage value compared to the worldwide total.
- Asia: US$10.421 trillion (42.6% of globally exported products)
- Europe: $8.856 trillion (36.2%)
- North America: $3.238 trillion (13.2%)
- Latin America (plus Caribbean minus Mexico): $816.5 billion (3.3%)
- Africa: $661.4 billion (2.7%)
- Oceania: $471.3 billion (1.9%)
The world’s exported products increased in total value by 26.7% compared to $19.328 trillion five years earlier in 2018.
The fastest-growing continents from 2018 to 2022 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 rose by 10.6% from $22.139 trillion during 2021.
The strongest continental growth year over year was spearheaded by exporters in Africa (up 19% from 2021), North America (up 17.6%), Oceania (up 16.4%), and Latin America (also up 16.4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
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 2022, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better.
Case in point: Europe’s population of 743.6 million people falls far short of Asia’s population of 4.75 billion. Nevertheless, exports per capita for Europe equaled US$11,910 per person compared to $2,194 per person for the much more populous Asian continent.
The following list shows the average value of continental exports per person. The population for each continent as of July 2018 is shown within parentheses.
- Europe: US$11,910 in exports per capita (743.6 million residents)
- Oceania: $10,473 (45 million residents)
- North America: $8,593 (376.9 million residents)
- Asia: $2,194 (4.75 billion residents)
- Latin America (plus Caribbean minus Mexico): $1,237 (660.3 million residents)
- Africa: $464 (1.43 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 excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, the Latin American score for exports per capita is almost 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 both North American 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 October 2, 2023
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database (GDP based on Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on October 2, 2023
Trade Map, International Trade Centre, www.intracen.org/marketanalysis. Accessed on October 2, 2023
Wikipedia, List of countries and dependencies by population. Accessed on October 2, 2023