The Ocean Economy at a Glance

Executive summary

Drawing on original OECD estimates and analysis, this publication provides policymakers with new insights into the scale, structure and evolution of the global ocean economy from 1995 to 2025.

The ocean economy is a substantial and growing pillar of global prosperity

The global ocean economy generated USD 3.5 trillion of gross value added (GVA) in 2025, up 132% in real terms from 1995. This compares favourably to the overall economy which grew by 125% in real terms from 1995. The OECD area accounted for around half of global ocean economy GVA in 2025, following a recovery from 46.6% in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Non-OECD Asia increased its share from 16.0% in 1995 to 36.0% in 2025, making it the largest regional ocean economy since 2010.

The ocean economy’s contribution to the global economy fluctuated between 3% and 4% in GVA terms. The ocean economy’s share of world current price GVA increased from 2.9% in 1995 to a peak of 3.7% in 2012. It then dropped to 2.7% in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently recovered to 3.0% in 2025. The share was higher outside the OECD area than within it in every year. In 2025, the ocean economy accounted for 4.0% of the total GVA of non-OECD economies compared with 2.6% in the OECD area.

‘Marine and coastal tourism’ and ‘offshore energy and marine non-living resources’ took turns as the ocean economy’s largest generators of GVA, while ‘maritime industries’ was the fastest growing. Tourism was the largest at the beginning of the period in 1995 and the end in 2025, although its share of ocean economy GVA fell from 33.5% to 28.6%. Offshore energy and marine non-living resources share rose from 17.4% to a peak of 34.6% in 2012 and then fell back to 23.7%. Maritime industries was the largest area in one year, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It held around a quarter of ocean economy GVA throughout the entire period. Maritime industries’ real terms GVA reached 3.4 times its 1995 level by 2025, growing by 4.2% a year, the fastest of all components. Ocean education, research and goods distribution grew second fastest, by 3.1% a year, compared with 2.8% for the ocean economy and 2.7% for the overall economy. Marine and coastal tourism and marine fishing, aquaculture and processing each grew by 2.6% a year. Offshore energy and marine non-living resources grew slowest, by 1.8% a year, so that its GVA increased by only 71% in real terms over the period.

Ocean economy employment grew to reach 103 million full-time equivalents (FTEs) in 2025 and has undergone significant structural changes since 1995. Employment in marine fishing, aquaculture and processing fell globally with its share of ocean economy FTEs having halved from 40% to 20% over the period. Marine and coastal tourism’s FTEs increased from 22.8 million to 43.4 million to replace marine fishing, aquaculture and processing as the largest employer in 2005. And ocean education, research and goods distribution superseded marine fishing, aquaculture and processing in 2023. Of the ten largest ocean economies in terms of employment, eight are non-OECD economies.

Ocean economy labour productivity gains outpaced those in the overall economy

More moderate employment growth combined with strong real-terms GVA growth lifted ocean economy labour productivity by 75% over the period compared with 58% in the overall economy. Ocean economy employment rose in full-time equivalent (FTE) terms by 33% between 1995 and 2025. This compares with a 42% increase in FTEs in the overall economy. Labour productivity, as measured by GVA per FTE, more than tripled in real terms in marine fishing, aquaculture and processing and more than doubled in maritime industries. It increased by 13% in marine and coastal tourism and fell by 16% in offshore energy and marine non-living resources. In 2025 current prices, ocean economy labour productivity was 1.22 times the overall economy’s globally but 0.84 times within the OECD area and 1.65 times outside it. The ocean economy’s productivity premium therefore lies outside the OECD area.

Ocean science and policy increasingly focus on the major transformations shaping the ocean economy

Ocean-related scientific publications grew in step with scientific publications as a whole and turned towards engineering and technology. The number of ocean publications increased 4.6 times from 1996 to reach 65 641 in 2024. The balance of subjects moved from marine life and the physical ocean towards ocean engineering and technology themes. ‘Underwater acoustics, sensing, communications and robotics’, technologies that are related to the digitalisation of the ocean economy, became the largest of 24 detected themes in 2024 with 6.7% of ocean publications (up from 3.2% in 1996). Topics related to ‘offshore wind, wave and tidal energy’ and ‘desalination and water-treatment technologies’ grew fastest, by 16.0% and 13.5% a year compared with 6.3% for all detected themes.

The share of ocean science, technology and innovation (STI) policy initiatives addressing the net-zero transition is three-times that of all initiatives reported in the EC-OECD STIP Compass. Net zero transitions are addressed by 47.8% of the ocean-related policies, often as part of broader climate policies, compared with 15.7% of all initiatives. Ocean policies have a stronger focus on building capacity for research and coordination across organisations than the general population of initiatives. Dedicated ocean policies target collaborative infrastructures 10.7 percentage points more than all initiatives do. However, targeted support to innovative enterprises is less common in ocean-related policies than in other policies recorded in the STIP Compass (27.4% of all initiatives compared with 16.1% of dedicated ocean initiatives).

Improving the evidence base is essential for effective ocean management and governance

As the ocean economy grows in scale, technological sophistication and strategic importance, better measurement will become ever more essential for effective ocean management and governance. As countries seek to develop ocean economy thematic accounts tailored to their national priorities, the OECD will support these efforts by advancing internationally consistent measurement and expand its analysis of the economic, social, environmental, financial, scientific and innovation dimensions of the ocean economy. This broader agenda could notably include marine ecosystems assets and services, providing ultimately the evidence needed to inform ocean governance, strengthen management and support the sustainable use, conservation and restoration of marine ecosystems.