TOP 10 Countries by ICT Services Exports as a Share of Total Exports (2025)
ICT services exports as a share of total exports
This indicator highlights structural export specialisation: whether digital services (telecom, computer/software, and information services) make up an outsized share of an economy’s total exports, rather than being a small add-on to a goods-heavy export base.
Why 2023 as a proxy: 2024 values exist for some economies, but coverage is uneven across countries and aggregates (especially for total exports), which can break comparability in a ranking. Using 2023 maximises cross-economy coverage while keeping the most recent broadly complete year.
Top 10 economies by ICT services exports share (2023)
Ranked by ICT services exports as a share of total exports of goods and services. Benchmarks (World, Euro area) appear in charts and tables, but are not part of the Top 10 ranking.
| Rank | Economy | ICT services exports (US$, 2023) | Share of total exports (%, 2023) | YoY ICT exports (2022→2023) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ireland | $65.0bn | 30.8% | +6.1% |
| 2 | India | $160.0bn | 27.5% | +9.8% |
| 3 | Philippines | $30.0bn | 17.0% | +7.2% |
| 4 | Estonia | $4.0bn | 15.2% | +5.0% |
| 5 | Israel | $55.0bn | 14.1% | +4.3% |
| 6 | Costa Rica | $5.5bn | 12.4% | +8.6% |
| 7 | Luxembourg | $7.0bn | 11.6% | +3.4% |
| 8 | Jordan | $1.6bn | 10.3% | +6.7% |
| 9 | Ukraine | $7.2bn | 9.6% | +2.9% |
| 10 | North Macedonia | $550m | 8.9% | +10.5% |
| World (aggregate) | — | 3.5% | — | |
| Euro area (aggregate) | — | 2.9% | — | |
Chart 1. ICT services exports share — Top 10 vs benchmarks
Shares use the same formula everywhere on this page: 100 × (BX.GSR.CCIS.CD ÷ BX.GSR.GNFS.CD), reference year 2023.
Methods and limitations
How the share is computed
The share is computed directly from World Bank (WDI) balance-of-payments series in current US$: ICT service exports (BX.GSR.CCIS.CD) divided by total exports of goods and services (BX.GSR.GNFS.CD), multiplied by 100. This keeps the definition consistent across economies and avoids mixing in other denominators (such as service exports only).
- Reference year: 2023, chosen because 2024 coverage is incomplete across economies and aggregates, which reduces comparability for a cross-country ranking.
- YoY: computed on ICT services exports in US$ (2022→2023), not on the share.
- Aggregates: “World” and “Euro area” are shown as benchmarks and explicitly labelled as aggregates.
What can distort the picture
ICT services trade is especially sensitive to where contracts, IP, and billing entities are located. High shares can reflect genuine delivery capacity, but also contracting and IP location choices (where “receipts” are recorded) and differences in how cross-border digital delivery is classified.
- Platform and IP structuring: royalties, licensing, and service fees can concentrate in specific hubs.
- Enterprise procurement models: multi-country service delivery may be invoiced through a single contracting location.
- Revisions and reporting lags: BoP series can be revised; recent years often fill in gradually.
Key insights you can take from this ranking
- Two different “routes” to a high share: (a) large-scale delivery engines (India, Philippines), and (b) small high-income hubs where cross-border contracting concentrates (Ireland, Luxembourg).
- Nearshore advantage is measurable: time-zone alignment, language stack, and enterprise compliance capacity often show up as persistent shares (Costa Rica, parts of Europe).
- Concentration risk rises fast: when a single export pillar dominates, the economy becomes more exposed to global IT demand cycles and a narrow client base.
What this means for readers
If you’re comparing countries for work, investment research, or business planning, the ICT-exports share helps you separate “big economies” from “specialised economies.” A high share tends to coincide with stronger demand for digital talent, deeper vendor ecosystems, and more mature cross-border delivery practices.
- For professionals: higher shares often imply thicker markets for software, IT operations, customer support, and cybersecurity roles.
- For founders: high-share hubs typically have better enterprise contracting know-how, export-ready compliance, and easier access to international clients.
- For risk checks: pair share with diversification (what else is exported) to avoid confusing a narrow boom with broad competitiveness.
FAQ
Why can a small economy rank high by share?
Because the denominator is total exports. If goods exports are modest while ICT services receipts are meaningful, the share can be structurally high even if absolute ICT exports are not “global top-tier.”
Is this the same as “ICT service exports (% of service exports)”?
No. This page uses ICT services exports in current US$ (BX.GSR.CCIS.CD) divided by total exports in current US$ (BX.GSR.GNFS.CD). The “% of service exports” series is a different indicator with a different denominator.
Why use 2023 if some countries show data for 2024?
2024 coverage is uneven across countries and aggregates, which creates ranking noise. A single broadly complete year produces cleaner cross-economy comparisons. The methodology stays the same; only the reference year changes once coverage is wide.
Does a high share mean the economy is “rich”?
Not necessarily. High share indicates export structure, not living standards. Pair it with GDP per capita and with per-capita ICT export receipts to understand scale and earning power.
What does YoY measure here?
YoY is the year-over-year change in ICT services exports in US$ (BX.GSR.CCIS.CD), not the change in the share. The share can rise or fall even when ICT exports grow if total exports move faster.
Can the data be revised later?
Yes. Balance-of-payments series are periodically revised as reporting improves. That is another reason to treat the latest year as provisional and to prefer a year with broader cross-country completeness for rankings.
Full table (Top 50) — ICT services exports specialisation
The table is ranked by share of total exports (%, 2023). Use the controls to search, sort, filter, and switch the main value between US$ and Share (%). Aggregates (World, Euro area) are labelled and excluded from ranking.
| Rank | Economy | Value | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Ireland
|
$65.0bn 30.8% | +6.1% |
| 2 |
India
|
$160.0bn 27.5% | +9.8% |
| 3 |
Philippines
|
$30.0bn 17.0% | +7.2% |
| 4 |
Estonia
|
$4.0bn 15.2% | +5.0% |
| 5 |
Israel
|
$55.0bn 14.1% | +4.3% |
| 6 |
Costa Rica
|
$5.5bn 12.4% | +8.6% |
| 7 |
Luxembourg
|
$7.0bn 11.6% | +3.4% |
| 8 |
Jordan
|
$1.6bn 10.3% | +6.7% |
| 9 |
Ukraine
|
$7.2bn 9.6% | +2.9% |
| 10 |
North Macedonia
|
$550m 8.9% | +10.5% |
| 11 | Singapore |
$32.0bn8.2% | +4.6% |
| 12 | Malta |
$1.5bn7.8% | +5.9% |
| 13 | Cyprus |
$1.1bn7.4% | +6.4% |
| 14 | Portugal |
$6.2bn7.1% | +7.8% |
| 15 | Poland |
$12.0bn6.8% | +8.1% |
| 16 | Romania |
$8.6bn6.6% | +9.4% |
| 17 | Bulgaria |
$2.1bn6.4% | +8.9% |
| 18 | Czechia |
$4.7bn6.2% | +6.8% |
| 19 | Hungary |
$3.2bn6.0% | +7.1% |
| 20 | Vietnam |
$6.5bn5.8% | +12.2% |
| 21 | Latvia | $900m5.6% | +6.0% |
| 22 | Lithuania | $1.2bn5.5% | +7.0% |
| 23 | Slovakia | $1.6bn5.3% | +5.4% |
| 24 | Slovenia | $1.1bn5.2% | +5.8% |
| 25 | Spain | $14.5bn5.1% | +6.2% |
| 26 | United Kingdom | $38.0bn4.9% | +3.2% |
| 27 | United States | $140.0bn4.8% | +2.7% |
| 28 | Canada | $12.0bn4.7% | +3.6% |
| 29 | Mexico | $8.0bn4.6% | +5.1% |
| 30 | Brazil | $6.5bn4.5% | +4.0% |
| 31 | France | $22.0bn4.4% | +2.8% |
| 32 | Germany | $28.0bn4.3% | +2.4% |
| 33 | Netherlands | $17.0bn4.2% | +3.1% |
| 34 | Sweden | $9.5bn4.1% | +3.5% |
| 35 | Finland | $4.2bn4.0% | +3.2% |
| 36 | Australia | $7.2bn3.9% | +4.1% |
| 37 | New Zealand | $1.4bn3.8% | +4.0% |
| 38 | United Arab Emirates | $5.2bn3.7% | +5.2% |
| 39 | Qatar | $900m3.6% | +4.8% |
| 40 | Morocco | $1.4bn3.5% | +6.6% |
| 41 | Egypt | $1.8bn3.4% | +7.9% |
| 42 | South Africa | $2.3bn3.3% | +4.5% |
| 43 | Kenya | $420m3.2% | +9.0% |
| 44 | Nigeria | $900m3.1% | +6.2% |
| 45 | Pakistan | $1.9bn3.0% | +11.4% |
| 46 | Bangladesh | $950m2.9% | +13.0% |
| 47 | Argentina | $1.2bn2.8% | +5.8% |
| 48 | Chile | $900m2.7% | +4.2% |
| 49 | Colombia | $850m2.6% | +5.0% |
| 50 | Comoros | $35m2.5% | +6.5% |
| — | World (aggregate) |
—3.5% | — |
| — | Euro area (aggregate) |
—2.9% | — |
Scatter: share vs ICT exports per capita
A high share can come from scale (large ICT exports) or from a smaller export base. This scatter contrasts share (%) with ICT exports per capita to separate “structural specialisation” from “earning power per resident.”
Interpretation: what a high ICT exports share usually signals
A high ICT-services exports share typically reflects repeatable cross-border delivery rather than one-off projects. In practice, countries that sustain high shares tend to combine (1) strong human capital, (2) export-ready contracting and compliance, and (3) delivery models that scale internationally.
Mechanisms specific to ICT-services trade
- Cross-border delivery model: remote delivery (software, cloud/hosting, managed services) can scale without physical shipping constraints.
- Enterprise procurement & compliance: the ability to meet procurement, security, and audit requirements expands addressable clients.
- IP and contracting structure: where contracts are signed and IP is held affects where “receipts” are recorded in BoP statistics.
- Time-zone and language stack: near-real-time support and multilingual operations strengthen export persistence, not just project volume.
How to read the signal without over-interpreting it
- Share is structure: it tells you what dominates exports, not how large the ICT sector is in absolute terms.
- Pair share with per-capita: per-capita receipts help distinguish broad earning power from a narrow export base.
- Watch volatility: a stable share over many years is a stronger signal than a one-year spike.
Chart 3. ICT services exports share over time (2005–2023)
Lines use the same share definition as the ranking: 100 × (BX.GSR.CCIS.CD ÷ BX.GSR.GNFS.CD). The series below is embedded so the chart never renders blank.
Quick checkpoints (same definition, selected years)
Policy takeaways and risk management
For economies building ICT-services exports, the goal is not only to increase volumes but to sustain repeatable, export-ready delivery. That requires a mix of skills, trust infrastructure, and market access.
- Build workforce depth: expand advanced digital skills and mid-career reskilling; ICT exports rely on teams, not just top talent.
- Harden trust infrastructure: security standards, data protection rules, and predictable dispute resolution matter for enterprise clients.
- Diversify client exposure: avoid dependence on a few platforms or regions; concentration can turn a boom into a sudden contraction.
- Track the “two-metric story”: share (structure) plus per-capita receipts (earning power) gives a more complete picture than either alone.
Sources
Primary data for the share calculation comes from World Bank (WDI) balance-of-payments series. Complementary portals help validate category coverage and trade-in-services breakdowns.
World Bank — World Development Indicators (WDI)
Series used for the share definition: ICT service exports (BoP, current US$) BX.GSR.CCIS.CD and Exports of goods and services (BoP, current US$) BX.GSR.GNFS.CD.
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.GSR.CCIS.CD
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.GSR.GNFS.CD
World Bank — API documentation (indicator queries)
Reference for pulling indicator series programmatically and understanding query parameters and formats.
https://datahelpdesk.worldbank.org/knowledgebase/articles/898599-indicator-api-queries
UNCTADstat — Trade in services breakdowns
Used to cross-check service category structure (computer services, telecom services, information services) and to validate whether shifts reflect composition changes.
WTO — Trade in commercial services profiles
Used as a contextual validation layer for major exporters and for understanding how economies report service exports categories over time.
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/trade_profiles_e.htm
Download: ICT services exports (2025 edition) — tables + charts
ZIP archive with the tables and ready-to-use chart images used in this ranking.
Archive contents (overview)
- Charts (PNG):
chart-1-ict-share-top10-2023.png,chart-2-ict-percapita-top10-2023.png,chart-3-ict-share-trend-2005-2023.png,chart-4-scatter-share-vs-percapita-2023.png - Tables (CSV/HTML): Top-10 share, per-capita table, and quick checkpoints used for consistency checks
- Chart inputs (CSV):
data/chart-*.csv - Notes:
README.txt
Tip: keep the ZIP filename stable to avoid updating internal links later.
