Facts & Figures
Facts & Figures about world trade
- In 2007 - 2008 120 new jobs were created each day in the UK as a result of investment from overseas companies
- Trade drives growth and 80% of the poverty reduction that has lifted 500 million people around the world above the poverty line in the last 15 years is because of economic growth.
- The current economic downturn will drive exports down by roughly 9% in volume terms in 2009 - the biggest such contraction since the Second World War
- Some estimates predict the global middle class will grow by 2bn to 2030. As incomes rise, the demand for goods and services produced to international standards will grow. According to the Office of National Statistics, UK exports of goods and services increased from £225bn in 1996 to £368bn in 2007, thanks in part to demand from new emerging markets like India and China
- Openness to trade and investment is an important driver of growth and poverty reduction not just in the UK and EU, but everywhere – including in developing countries. A 10 percentage point increase in trade openness translates into 4% increase in per capita income
- Since 1945, average developed country industrial tariffs have fallen from nearly 40% to less than 5%;world exports have risen by 27 times; and world income by eight times
- Between 1990 and 2004 the number of people living in developing regions on less than a dollar a day dropped by just over 12%, an improvement driven in part by globalisation, however, one in six people in the world today (almost 1 billion people) still live in poverty on less than one dollar a day
- Asia was the poorest continent on the planet 40 years ago – twice as poor as Africa is today – it now has the fastest growing economy and is twice as rich as Africa
- UK Government expects to increase spending on ‘Aid for Trade’ by 50% to $750m a year by 2010
- In developing countries, which are dependent on trade for growth, exports will shrink by some 2%-3% in 2009
- Around 25 million international sea passengers go through UK ports
- Over 95% of UK imports and exports by volume and 75% by value pass through the country’s ports
- In total, the UK ports sector supports over 360,000 jobs in the UK economy and contributes £17.9 billion to GDP