📈 From West to East: Global Export Power Shift (1948–2024)

In 1948, five major Western economies—France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States—accounted for $26.8 billion in exports, or 45.8% of global exports. In contrast, five East Asian economies—China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan—exported just $1.2 billion, representing only 2.1% of the world total.

The Western economies maintained an average export share of around 40% from the 1950s through the 1980s. However, their combined share fell sharply from 41.7% in 1990 to 26.0% in 2012, and declined further to 24.3% by 2024. Meanwhile, East Asia's share rose steadily across the decades, reflecting its growing role in global trade.

East Asia’s exports surpassed those of the five Western economies for the first time in 2020. By 2024, East Asian exports reached $6.1 trillion (24.9% of global exports), narrowly exceeding the Western total of $5.9 trillion (24.3%). Despite this shift, the combined share of these ten economies has consistently accounted for about half of global exports since the 1950s.