Top 10 Countries with the Highest Export Concentration (HHI)

Overview

Export market concentration is a partner-risk indicator. A high HHI means that a large share of export value is directed to a narrow set of destination markets. That may reflect geography, transport corridors, long-term supply chains or regional demand, but it also increases exposure to border disruption, sanctions, tariff changes, demand shocks and payment-system risk in a small number of markets.

The top of this verified set is not gradual. Mongolia at 0.78 stands far above Congo, Dem. Rep. at 0.44, and the distance between those two entries is larger than the distance between Congo, Dem. Rep. and most remaining rows. Oman and Zambia follow at 0.20, while the lower part of the table ranges from 0.09 to 0.05.

A lower value does not mean an exporter has no trade risk. It means destination markets are more dispersed. Product concentration, fiscal exposure to commodities, shipping chokepoints, services exports and firm-level concentration are separate questions and should be measured with separate indicators.

Top table: highest verified WITS market-concentration values

The short table shows the ten highest rows from the verified dataset. It is sorted by numeric HHI in descending order. Equal rounded values are kept as separate rows and ordered by the fixed compiled-table rank.

Table note: this is a verified 12-row WITS sample, not a forced global Top 100. All rows are official_value entries; no official forecasts or modeled projections are included.

Methodology

The metric is the WITS HH Market Concentration Index for merchandise exports. It is a Herfindahl-Hirschman index calculated across export destination markets. A value closer to 1 means that a country’s exports are concentrated in fewer partner markets; a value closer to 0 means that destination markets are more diversified.

This compiled research dataset uses only rows where a numeric value, country, target year, value status, source name, source URL, region note and method note could be assigned. All included rows are treated as official_value because they come from World Bank WITS country snapshot or country-indicator pages. No official forecasts and no modeled projections are used.

The target year is a 2026 publication snapshot, not a claim that the trade observations themselves are from 2026. Most listed rows use 2023 WITS trade-indicator observations. Mongolia uses the latest relevant value shown on its WITS country snapshot for 2022. Because WITS country snapshots may show the latest available observation by country, this page discloses mixed observation years instead of forcing a single-year table.

Ranking direction is descending: higher HHI ranks higher because this page measures concentration risk. Values are displayed to two decimal places because WITS country pages show rounded indicator values. When equal rounded values appear, the table keeps a stable compiled order rather than implying precision that the rounded display does not support.

Missing values are not estimated. Conflicting values are not averaged. If a country’s exact WITS value or year could not be confirmed for this compiled page, the country is not included. The result is a smaller but cleaner verified ranking rather than a larger table with unsupported rows.

Main ranking table

Search, filter or sort the table by country, region, status, value or year. The ranking contains the same 12 verified WITS entries described in the methodology.

Table note: values are rounded WITS display values. All rows are official_value entries. No missing value is estimated, no conflict is averaged and no forecast or modeled projection is included.

Insights

The main lesson is methodological as well as economic: a country can be dependent on a narrow export product while selling that product to several destination markets. Another country can export a broader mix of goods while relying heavily on one destination. This ranking captures the second issue only.

What it means

For policymakers, export market concentration helps identify where trade diplomacy, transport corridors and payment systems matter most. If a large share of exports depends on one or two destination markets, a disruption in those markets can affect foreign-currency earnings, corporate cash flow and public revenue.

For analysts, the indicator is useful as an early warning signal but not as a full diagnosis. It should be read with product concentration, export-to-GDP ratios, fiscal dependence on trade taxes or commodities, transport chokepoints and the structure of domestic exporters.

For companies, a high national market-concentration value can point to country-level exposure that may also affect suppliers, banks, ports and insurers. Diversifying customers, currencies, shipping routes and contract terms can reduce practical risk even when a national export basket changes slowly.

FAQ

Sources

Sources are limited to World Bank WITS and World Bank dataset-level pages. Country pages are used for row-level values; metadata and Data Catalog pages are used for indicator definition and dataset context.