International Trade and Finance
Preface
At a time when the world should be deepening cooperation and expanding opportunity we are seeing the opposite.
Acknowledgements
The World Investment Report 2025 was prepared by a team at UNCTAD led by Nan Li Collins.
Foreword
Investment is more than just capital flows and project pipelines.
Explanatory notes
The terms country and economy as used in this report also refer as appropriate to territories or areas.
World Investment Report 2025
International Investment in the Digital Economy
The digital economy is a significant and rapidly expanding part of the global economy. However the benefits of the digital economy are unevenly spread; there is a large digital divide. It is caused by infrastructure gaps skills gaps and services gaps. Bridging these gaps requires significant investment and private sector development. Promoting international investment by digital MNEs can support digital development. UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2017 first looked at the implications of the digital economy for international investment and investment policy. Since that report the relevance of digital-economy foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased significantly. Digital technologies have continued to advance. Investment policies connected to digitalization have also moved on. And importantly the United Nations adopted a new Digital Compact in 2024 with the objective to help developing countries bridge the digital divide. World Investment Report 2025 aims to explore the latest trends of international investment in digital economy analyze the drivers and determinants assess their impact on sustainable development as well as analyze how investment policy can support digital economy and provide relevant policy recommendations.
Acknowledgements
The Compilation Guidelines for Measurement of Gender-in-Trade Statistics were prepared by UNCTAD for further refinement and application in country pilot studies to assess data availability and gaps and to compile experimental gender-in-trade indicators.
Aggregated gender-in-trade indicators
In general we can distinguish between i) aggregated indicators of gender-in-trade providing an immediate snapshot of the gender situation in foreign trade and ii) disaggregated indicators that describe more specific gender dimensions and provide additional insights on gender differences among the trading companies.
Compilation methodologies
This chapter presents three methodological approaches to the production of gender-in-trade statistics: microdata linking sectoral analysis and ad-hoc specialized studies. Ideally the compilation of gender-intrade indicators should use available data to the extent possible thus avoiding additional data collection to reduce the burden on respondents and ensure sufficient flexibility for analysis of different aspects from the gender perspective.
Disaggregated gender-in-trade indicators
Aggregated gender-in-trade indicators are helpful in providing a general picture but they may prove insufficient or even misleading in describing gender aspects and identifying factors of gender inequalities.
Country case studies
This chapter presents case studies on measuring gender equality in trade based on research in different countries. The availability of relevant data significantly conditioned the approaches used by these countries for analysing gender-in-trade aspects.
Compilation Guidelines for Measurement of Gender-in-trade Statistics
Pilot Testing Methodologies
The Compilation Guidelines for Measurement of Gender-in-Trade Statistics were prepared by UNCTAD for further refinement and application in country pilot studies to assess data availability and gaps and to compile experimental gender-in-trade indicators. The compilation guidelines reflect on the findings of a pilot carried out in Georgia and later repeated in Kazakhstan. The guidelines were produced as part of the joint UNCTAD-ECA-ECE United Nations Development Account project “Data and statistics for more gender-responsive trade policies in Africa the Caucasus and Central Asia" and are intended to be put to test by any country interested to assess data availability and develop new indicators by reusing data and statistics to provide new insights for a more informed and gender-responsive trade policy. These guidelines will be subject to further refinement and extensions based on the work of countries and other international organizations.
Trends in international trade
This section illustrates some of the significant trade trends at the global level covering their developments from 2010 to the most recent patterns observed in 2024.