Merchandise trade in Lower middle income
Lower middle income: Merchandise trade was 35.7% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Merchandise trade in Lower middle income, 1960–2025
Source: World Trade Organization (WTO). Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
Lower middle income recorded 35.7% for merchandise trade in 2025.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 0.2% on the previous year and up 3.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, merchandise trade in Lower middle income peaked at 47.7% in 2008 and was at its lowest, 18.5%, in 1970.
That places Lower middle income 41st out of 45 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 66 years of available data.
Merchandise trade in Lower middle income, year by year
| Year | % of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 22.3% | — |
| 1961 | 21.1% | -5.6% |
| 1962 | 20.4% | -3.3% |
| 1963 | 19.8% | -2.8% |
| 1964 | 20.0% | +0.9% |
| 1965 | 19.7% | -1.5% |
| 1966 | 22.8% | +15.9% |
| 1967 | 21.2% | -6.9% |
| 1968 | 19.2% | -9.5% |
| 1969 | 18.9% | -1.6% |
| 1970 | 18.5% | -2.2% |
| 1971 | 19.4% | +5.1% |
| 1972 | 19.6% | +0.7% |
| 1973 | 22.0% | +12.2% |
| 1974 | 29.5% | +34.2% |
| 1975 | 29.1% | -1.2% |
| 1976 | 30.7% | +5.3% |
| 1977 | 32.6% | +6.3% |
| 1978 | 31.6% | -3.1% |
| 1979 | 31.5% | -0.3% |
| 1980 | 34.5% | +9.7% |
| 1981 | 28.3% | -18.0% |
| 1982 | 25.1% | -11.4% |
| 1983 | 23.3% | -7.3% |
| 1984 | 25.3% | +8.8% |
| 1985 | 23.8% | -6.0% |
| 1986 | 21.4% | -10.1% |
| 1987 | 23.8% | +11.4% |
| 1988 | 26.1% | +9.3% |
| 1989 | 27.8% | +6.7% |
| 1990 | 26.7% | -3.9% |
| 1991 | 28.4% | +6.3% |
| 1992 | 29.6% | +4.1% |
| 1993 | 29.2% | -1.3% |
| 1994 | 28.4% | -2.7% |
| 1995 | 29.0% | +2.2% |
| 1996 | 28.0% | -3.7% |
| 1997 | 27.7% | -1.0% |
| 1998 | 25.5% | -8.0% |
| 1999 | 29.3% | +14.9% |
| 2000 | 30.9% | +5.4% |
| 2001 | 29.9% | -3.0% |
| 2002 | 30.1% | +0.7% |
| 2003 | 31.4% | +4.0% |
| 2004 | 35.2% | +12.4% |
| 2005 | 39.5% | +12.1% |
| 2006 | 40.5% | +2.5% |
| 2007 | 40.6% | +0.3% |
| 2008 | 47.7% | +17.4% |
| 2009 | 36.7% | -22.9% |
| 2010 | 38.3% | +4.3% |
| 2011 | 45.7% | +19.2% |
| 2012 | 44.3% | -2.9% |
| 2013 | 43.1% | -2.8% |
| 2014 | 40.7% | -5.6% |
| 2015 | 34.4% | -15.4% |
| 2016 | 30.9% | -10.1% |
| 2017 | 32.5% | +5.2% |
| 2018 | 35.4% | +8.7% |
| 2019 | 31.8% | -10.1% |
| 2020 | 27.5% | -13.6% |
| 2021 | 33.4% | +21.4% |
| 2022 | 37.7% | +13.1% |
| 2023 | 35.0% | -7.1% |
| 2024 | 35.6% | +1.7% |
| 2025 | 35.7% | +0.2% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 20.5% | 18.9% | 22.8% | 10 |
| 1970s | 26.4% | 18.5% | 32.6% | 10 |
| 1980s | 25.9% | 21.4% | 34.5% | 10 |
| 1990s | 28.2% | 25.5% | 29.6% | 10 |
| 2000s | 36.3% | 29.9% | 47.7% | 10 |
| 2010s | 37.7% | 30.9% | 45.7% | 10 |
| 2020s | 34.2% | 27.5% | 37.7% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Lower middle income
More private sector data for Lower middle income
- Food imports 9.8% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 51.4% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 1.56 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 14.8% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 50.0% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 1.06 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 358.3 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.1444 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 5.93 % change on previous year (2025)
- Merchandise imports (current US$), per capita 531.07 current US$ per person (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is merchandise trade in Lower middle income?
- Merchandise trade in Lower middle income was 35.7% in 2025, according to World Trade Organization (WTO).
- What is the highest merchandise trade recorded in Lower middle income?
- The highest recorded value was 47.7% in 2008.
- What is the lowest merchandise trade recorded in Lower middle income?
- The lowest recorded value was 18.5% in 1970.
- How does Lower middle income rank for merchandise trade?
- Lower middle income ranks 41st out of 45 groups with data for 2025.
- Is merchandise trade rising or falling in Lower middle income?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Lower middle income data come from?
- The figures come from World Trade Organization (WTO), published as part of Merchandise trade (% of GDP). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 66 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
General merchandise trade includes goods whose economic ownership is changed between a resident and a non-resident and that are not included in the following specific categories: goods under merchanting, non-monetary gold, and parts of travel, construction, and government goods and services n.i.e. It is the total of merchandise exports plus merchandise imports. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.