{"id":1108345,"name":"Trade volume index","unit":"index 1913=100","createdAt":"2025-09-24T12:13:05.000Z","updatedAt":"2025-09-25T10:47:57.000Z","coverage":"","timespan":"1800-2024","datasetId":7218,"columnOrder":0,"shortName":"volume_index","catalogPath":"grapher/trade/2025-09-22/wto_trade_growth/wto_trade_growth#volume_index","descriptionShort":"World trade volume index, based on the average of exports and imports, adjusted for inflation and expressed relative to 1913 = 100.","descriptionProcessing":"We combined historical trade data from Federico & Tena-Junguito (2016) (up to 1950) with World Trade Organization data (from 1951 onwards). The WTO index, originally set to 1950 = 100, was rescaled to 1913 = 100 using the 1950 overlap as the conversion factor. This allows the two series to be presented consistently on the same baseline.","type":"float","dataChecksum":"8608909292706279802","metadataChecksum":"-7137607686557356127","datasetName":"Evolution of trade under the WTO: handy statistics","updatePeriodDays":365,"datasetVersion":"2025-09-22","nonRedistributable":false,"display":{"unit":"index 1913=100","numDecimalPlaces":1},"schemaVersion":2,"presentation":{"topicTagsLinks":["Trade & Globalization"]},"descriptionKey":["The volume of world trade measures the goods that countries export and import across borders. To compare trade over time, researchers calculate an index that averages exports and imports and sets 1913 as the baseline year (equal to 100). This allows us to track how global trade has changed over time.","One of the most important developments of the last century has been the integration of national economies into a global economic system. This indicator helps us see how trade has grown and how deeply connected the world’s economies have become since 1800.","This data is expressed as a world trade volume index, with all figures relative to 1913 = 100.","[Federico & Tena-Junguito (2016)](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10290-017-0279-z) assembled trade statistics from hundreds of sources for the period up to 1938, covering almost every country and colony from 1800. These estimates are adjusted to 1913 country borders.","Because definitions varied, the researchers standardized the historical data to modern UN conventions: smuggling, re-exports, transit trade, and bullion were excluded; fiscal years were aligned with calendar years; imports were valued including freight, and exports excluding it. Researchers used detailed price indexes to correct for inflation and shipping costs.","From 1950 onwards, we extend the series using data from the World Trade Organization (WTO). Because the WTO index was originally set to 1950 = 100, we rescaled it to 1913 = 100, so that the historical and current series are on the same scale."],"dimensions":{"years":{"values":[{"id":1800},{"id":1801},{"id":1802},{"id":1803},{"id":1804},{"id":1805},{"id":1806},{"id":1807},{"id":1808},{"id":1809},{"id":1810},{"id":1811},{"id":1812},{"id":1813},{"id":1814},{"id":1815},{"id":1816},{"id":1817},{"id":1818},{"id":1819},{"id":1820},{"id":1821},{"id":1822},{"id":1823},{"id":1824},{"id":1825},{"id":1826},{"id":1827},{"id":1828},{"id":1829},{"id":1830},{"id":1831},{"id":1832},{"id":1833},{"id":1834},{"id":1835},{"id":1836},{"id":1837},{"id":1838},{"id":1839},{"id":1840},{"id":1841},{"id":1842},{"id":1843},{"id":1844},{"id":1845},{"id":1846},{"id":1847},{"id":1848},{"id":1849},{"id":1850},{"id":1851},{"id":1852},{"id":1853},{"id":1854},{"id":1855},{"id":1856},{"id":1857},{"id":1858},{"id":1859},{"id":1860},{"id":1861},{"id":1862},{"id":1863},{"id":1864},{"id":1865},{"id":1866},{"id":1867},{"id":1868},{"id":1869},{"id":1870},{"id":1871},{"id":1872},{"id":1873},{"id":1874},{"id":1875},{"id":1876},{"id":1877},{"id":1878},{"id":1879},{"id":1880},{"id":1881},{"id":1882},{"id":1883},{"id":1884},{"id":1885},{"id":1886},{"id":1887},{"id":1888},{"id":1889},{"id":1890},{"id":1891},{"id":1892},{"id":1893},{"id":1894},{"id":1895},{"id":1896},{"id":1897},{"id":1898},{"id":1899},{"id":1900},{"id":1901},{"id":1902},{"id":1903},{"id":1904},{"id":1905},{"id":1906},{"id":1907},{"id":1908},{"id":1909},{"id":1910},{"id":1911},{"id":1912},{"id":1913},{"id":1914},{"id":1915},{"id":1916},{"id":1917},{"id":1918},{"id":1919},{"id":1920},{"id":1921},{"id":1922},{"id":1923},{"id":1924},{"id":1925},{"id":1926},{"id":1927},{"id":1928},{"id":1929},{"id":1930},{"id":1931},{"id":1932},{"id":1933},{"id":1934},{"id":1935},{"id":1936},{"id":1937},{"id":1938},{"id":1950},{"id":1951},{"id":1952},{"id":1953},{"id":1954},{"id":1955},{"id":1956},{"id":1957},{"id":1958},{"id":1959},{"id":1960},{"id":1961},{"id":1962},{"id":1963},{"id":1964},{"id":1965},{"id":1966},{"id":1967},{"id":1968},{"id":1969},{"id":1970},{"id":1971},{"id":1972},{"id":1973},{"id":1974},{"id":1975},{"id":1976},{"id":1977},{"id":1978},{"id":1979},{"id":1980},{"id":1981},{"id":1982},{"id":1983},{"id":1984},{"id":1985},{"id":1986},{"id":1987},{"id":1988},{"id":1989},{"id":1990},{"id":1991},{"id":1992},{"id":1993},{"id":1994},{"id":1995},{"id":1996},{"id":1997},{"id":1998},{"id":1999},{"id":2000},{"id":2001},{"id":2002},{"id":2003},{"id":2004},{"id":2005},{"id":2006},{"id":2007},{"id":2008},{"id":2009},{"id":2010},{"id":2011},{"id":2012},{"id":2013},{"id":2014},{"id":2015},{"id":2016},{"id":2017},{"id":2018},{"id":2019},{"id":2020},{"id":2021},{"id":2022},{"id":2023},{"id":2024}]},"entities":{"values":[{"id":355,"name":"World","code":"OWID_WRL"}]}},"origins":[{"id":8737,"title":"Evolution of trade under the WTO: handy statistics","description":"The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible.","producer":"World Trade Organization","citationFull":"World Trade Organization. Evolution of trade under the WTO: handy statistics. Retrieved from https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_evolution_e/evolution_trade_wto_e.htm (Accessed: 23 Sept 2025).","urlMain":"https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_evolution_e/evolution_trade_wto_e.htm#fnt-1","urlDownload":"https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_evolution_e/world_trade_growth.xlsx","dateAccessed":"2025-09-23","datePublished":"2024","license":{"url":"https://ttd.wto.org/docs/Terms_of_Use_WTO_Tariff_and_Trade_Data.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com","name":"CC BY 4.0"}},{"id":8742,"title":"A tale of two globalizations: gains from trade and openness 1800–2010","description":"This paper compares the waves of globalization before the outbreak of the Great Recession in 2007 with its alleged historical antecedent before the outbreak of World War One. We describe trends in trade and openness, investigate the proximate causes of changes in openness and estimate the gains from trade from the early nineteenth century onwards. Our results suggest that the conventional wisdom has to be revised. The first wave of globalization started around 1820 and culminated around 1870. In the next century, trade continued to grow, with the exception of the Great Depression, but openness and gains fluctuated widely. They resumed a clear upward trend from the early 1970s. By 2007, the world was more open than a century earlier and its inhabitants gained from trade substantially more than their ancestors did.","producer":"Federico and Tena-Junguito","citationFull":"Federico, G., & Tena-Junguito, A. (2016). A tale of two globalizations: Gains from trade and openness 1800–2010 (Working Papers in Economic History No. 16-02).","urlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10290-017-0279-z","dateAccessed":"2025-09-22","datePublished":"2016","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0"}}]}