Global Brand Value Tops USD 14 Trillion in 2024; China, India, Brazil, Mexico and Viet Nam among the top; Egypt and Kazakhstan rising

Brands are a central element of intangible value, reflecting how firms shape their identity, communicate their value, and are perceived in the marketplace. Increasingly innovation-driven economies realize the centrality of having globally recognized brands to move up the global value chain and innovation ladder. For this reason, the Global Innovation Index (GII), in collaboration with Brand Finance, continues to monitor brand value as a key innovation output.

To capture brand value, the GII uses data from Brand Finance covering the 5,000 most valuable corporate brands worldwide. The calculation estimates the dollar amount a company would be willing to pay to license its brand if it did not own it. This involves assessing brand strength, determining an appropriate royalty rate, and applying it to projected branded revenues. These future royalty savings are then discounted to their present value to determine the brand’s worth. By calculating those avoided payments, we can see how much top brands such as Apple, TikTok, Samsung, Toyota or Shell are worth today.

Continued Growth in Global Brand Value

The global value of the top 5,000 brands increased from USD 13.2 trillion in 2024 to over USD 14 trillion in 2025. This corresponds to a growth rate of almost 6 percent. Since 2020, the total brand value has grown by more than USD 3 trillion.

This trend confirms the continued importance of intangible assets in the global economy and the resilience of leading firms in maintaining and expanding their brand portfolios.

Table 1: Global Brand Value of the Top 5,000 Brands (2020–2025) and Annual Growth Rates

Source: Brand Finance database

Global Distribution of Brand Value

The United States continues to lead by a wide margin in terms of total brand value, contributing USD 6.41 trillion, which represents 45.7 percent of the global total. This figure is greater than the combined brand value of the next 15 economies in the ranking. China ranks second, with USD 1.81 trillion or 12.9 percent of the total. Other major contributors include Japan (5.6 percent), Germany (5.2 percent), France (4.2 percent), and the United Kingdom (3.7 percent).

India ranks 9th, with a brand value of USD 244 billion equivalent to 1.7 percent of the global total, making it the second middle-income economy in the top 10 after China.

Table 2: Global Brand Value by Economy and Share of Total Worldwide Brand Value

Source: Brand Finance database

Emerging Economies Gain Ground in Brand Value

Beyond China and India, several other emerging markets also perform strongly in the global brand value rankings. Brazil (USD 79.6 billion) ranks 19th, Mexico (USD 73.3 billion) ranks 21st, and Viet Nam (USD 33.15 billion) ranks 33rd, reflecting their growing brand-building capabilities in sectors such as banking and financial services, consumer goods and telecommunications.

Table 3: Top Economies by Brand Value in Each Developing Income Group and Their Leading Brand (2025)

Source: Brand Finance database

Notably, 7 out of the 20 fastest-growing economies by brand value between 2020 and 2025 are emerging markets. To mention a few of them, Egypt records almost 20 percent growth over the period, on a diversified base that includes banking and finance (National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, CIB), engineering (Elsewedy Electric) and consumer goods (Nakhla). Kazakhstan grows at around 19 percent, combining financial services through Halyk Bank with telecoms such as Kazakhtelecom and Kcell. Bangladesh experiences about 15 percent growth, driven by consumer goods and ICT brands like Derby and Banglalink.

Leading Brands and Sectoral Diversity

Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Walmart, all headquartered in the United States, remain the 5 most valuable global brands in 2025. Samsung (6th) in the Republic of Korea is the most valuable brand in Asia, while TikTok/Douyin (7th) in China, Deutsche Telekom (T) (9th) in Germany, Toyota (13th) in Japan and Shell (17th) in the United Kingdom also feature prominently.

Figure 1: Top Global Brands in 2025

Source: Brand Finance database
Note: The size of the bubbles represents the value of each brand

While the technology sector continues to account for the largest share of brand value, other industries, such as automotive, finance, pharmaceutical and luxury goods are well represented in the global rankings. This reflects a more diverse sectoral mix and the broadening of innovation across different parts of the economy.

Figure 2: Brand Value Distribution across Top Economies in 2025

Source: Brand Finance database

Brand Value Relative to GDP

To better reflect the economic significance of branding across economies of different sizes, the GII considers total brand value relative to GDP. This scaled indicator highlights the intensity of branding as part of national economic activity.

Table 4: Top Economies by Scaled Brand Value as a Percentage of GDP (2025)

Source: Brand Finance database

In 2025, the United States ranks first in scaled brand value, with a total equivalent to 21.1 percent of its GDP. This leadership in both absolute and relative terms reflects the prominent role that branding plays in the United States’ economic activity. Sweden (19.0 percent) and Switzerland (18.8 percent) follow, driven by consumer, banking and pharmaceutical brands. France (18.1 percent) and Japan (17.8 percent) complete the top 5.

Figure 4: Scaled Brand Value as a Percentage of GDP (2025)

Source: Brand Finance database

Background

WIPO provides insights into the growing significance of intangible assets in the global economy from two complementary perspectives: valuation and investment.

Valuation: The Global Innovation Index (GII) includes a sub-pillar of indicators on intangible assets – capturing both the intensity of intangible assets at the firm level and the global value of brands – thanks to the collaboration with Brand Finance which values 5,000 of the world’s most prominent corporate brands annually. Brand Finance is an independent brand valuation consultancy with offices in over 20 countries, with the aim of bridging the gap between marketing and finance by quantifying the financial value of brands. For more information, visit the GII webpage and Brand Finance Global 500 2025. You can check GII 2024 individual GII country profiles, for the United States, the People’s Republic of China, Sweden, France and others.

This work supports a broader initiative at WIPO to better understand and value intangible assets, including WIPO’s work on Intellectual Property Finance, as well as WIPO’s partnership with Luiss Business School to produce comprehensive and timely estimates of investment in intangible assets through the World Intangible Investment Highlights (WIIH).

Investment: The WIIH provides the first-ever up-to-date estimates of investment on intangible assets, including asset types that are not fully captured in official statistics. Spending on advertising and market research is treated as a proxy for investment in brands. These expenditures are assumed to build brand equity that lasts beyond the current year, so they are capitalized (i.e. treated as investment) with relatively high depreciation rates to reflect the short-lived nature of brand equity.

Looking ahead, the brand value findings will feature in the upcoming Global Innovation Index 2025. The GII 2025 cluster rankings will be unveiled on September 1, 2025, followed by the main GII 2025 launch on September 16, 2025. These releases will provide fresh insights into global innovation performance across economies, sectors and regions.