Information and Communication Technologies Data

A burgeoning demand the Internet of Things is propelling exponential growth in the trade of electronic components - to the benefit of developing countries, new figures show.

For the first time since 2009, the value of global imports of information and communications technology (ICT) goods declined in 2015 by 3.6 percent in current prices to just over $2 trillion.

Global imports of information and communications technology (ICT) goods grew by only 1% in 2014, the latest year for which figures are available, the lowest rate of growth compared to the preceding five years, newly released UNCTAD data show. Developing countries, and those countries changing from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, accounted for more than half (57%) of total global imports, which reached a value of $2.1 trillion.

The expanding contribution of developing countries to the global economy, led by shipbuilding and the manufacture of electronics, is revealed in the UNCTAD Handbook of Statistics 2012 , released today.