DHL Global Connectedness Report shows why globalization remains strong despite turbulent times

Since DHL’s Global Connectedness Report was last published, some of the strains on globalization have eased while others have intensified. The disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic are clearly in the past, and its economic aftereffects are receding. But the United Nations now reports the largest number of violent conflicts since the Second World War, and geopolitical rivalry over key technologies continues to escalate.  

In this dynamic environment, reliable measures of the state and trajectory of globalization are essential for business and public policy decision-making. The 2024 Global Connectedness Report is based on the meticulous analysis of nearly 9 million data points on country-to-country flows, and it measures the globalization of 181 countries, covering 99.7% of the global economy and 98.7% of the world’s population. It provides a unique and comprehensive picture of how goods & services, capital, information, and people are moving around the world.

That picture clearly shows that globalization reached a record high in 2022 and remained close to that level in 2023. This outcome may surprise many readers, but the data are unambiguous: global connectedness remains strong, even as the public policy context has become less conducive to globalization, and conflicts dominate the headlines.  

We invite you to look more closely at the key takeaways and topline results from the 2024 DHL Global Connectedness Report – and download the full report for a more in-depth analysis.

The 2024 DHL Global Connectedness Report includes country-level analyses of 181 countries. This provides additional evidence of the resilience of global flows. The gains were widespread across countries and not just the result of a small number of countries becoming more globally connected.

In 2022, the most recent year for which we have full country-level data, 143 countries became more globally connected, while only 38 saw their levels of connectedness decline.

Singapore topped the list of most globally connected countries this year, followed by The Netherlands, and Ireland. At the bottom of the list, in ascending order, were Guinea Bissau, Yemen, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The countries with the largest increases in 2022 were Bahrain, the United Kingdom, and Lebanon. The countries with the largest declines were Belarus and Russia. The drop in Russia’s connectedness was more than twice as large as any previous decline on record for a country that ranks among the world’s 20 largest economies.