Global Digital Economy: E-commerce Sales and Digitally Deliverable Services

UNCTAD measures the digital economy mainly through two lenses: business e-commerce sales and exports of digitally deliverable services [1] [2]. Digitally deliverable services are services that can be supplied remotely over computer networks, such as IT consulting, creative industries, telecommunications and financial services [1].

Business e-commerce sales across 45 developed and developing economies reached USD 28 trillion in 2024 [2]. These economies account for three quarters of global GDP and exports [2].

In a narrower set of 36 economies, sales in 2024 were 4.4% higher than in 2023, a slower pace than during the COVID-19 period [2]. UNCTAD identifies the United States, Europe and China as the largest e-commerce markets [2]. Its Digital Economy Report 2024 found that business e-commerce sales in 43 countries grew nearly 60% from 2016 to 2022 [3].

Global exports of digitally deliverable services totalled USD 4.5 trillion in 2023 [1]. In the same year, developing economies crossed the USD 1 trillion mark for the first time [1].

The ILO reports that digitally delivered services account for 14.5% of global exports [4].

Digitally deliverable services make up 56% of services exports worldwide but only 20% in least developed countries (LDCs) [1]. LDC exports rose 43% in value between 2015 and 2023, yet their share of the global total fell from 0.24% to 0.19% [1].

UNCTAD attributes the decline to gaps in infrastructure, digital skills and market access [1]. It also says e-commerce is growing faster in developing economies than in developed ones over 2016-2024 [2].

E-commerce figures come from UNCTADstat data insights (data updated 21 May 2026) and the UNCTAD Digital Economy Report 2024 page [2] [3]. Digital services trade figures come from an UNCTAD news release [1], with an ILO figure for the share of digitally delivered services in global exports [4].

UNCTAD e-commerce totals cover only economies that report data, not the whole world, and country coverage differs between the 45-economy, 43-country and 36-economy series. Values are in current USD.