The Global Sock Market | Top 40 countries by sock import value per capita

In 2024, the total value of sock imports worldwide reached more than $12.4 billion, with the United States alone accounting for one-fifth of that trade. These headline numbers underline the size of the global market, but they also obscure the role of smaller countries, which disappear in comparisons dominated by the largest economies. To create a fairer picture, imports can be divided by population, producing a per-capita measure that shows how much each country brings in for every resident.

This ranking reveals a very different map of the sock trade. Croatia tops the list with around $76 in sock imports per capita, followed by the Netherlands ($34.6), Bosnia and Herzegovina ($31.6), and Slovenia ($24.9). Wealthier northern European states such as Austria, Iceland, Denmark, and Switzerland also rank high, while large economies like Germany, France, and the United States fall further down the list once their imports are spread across tens or hundreds of millions of people.

It is important to note that these figures do not capture actual consumption: some countries import socks that are later re-exported, and domestic production is not included. Even so, the per-capita comparison highlights striking differences in trade patterns, from small countries with concentrated import flows to big markets where sheer size dilutes the numbers. Together, they sketch a more nuanced picture of how the humble sock travels across borders.