The Ocean Economy at a Glance

Reader’s guide

The Ocean Economy at a Glance 2026 presents the OECD’s most comprehensive attempt yet to provide new estimates of the global ocean economy, focussing in this edition on economic statistics and ocean science, technology and innovation indicators. The ocean economy is not readily visible in the national accounts of countries. This leaves policymakers and other stakeholders without the evidence necessary to make effective decisions concerning its development. The OECD estimates are intended to fill this knowledge gap, contribute to a better understanding of an important part of national economies, and provide the foundation for future statistics measuring environmental-economic linkages.

The work builds on over ten years of a dedicated OECD ocean economy programme undertaken alongside pioneering ocean economy measurement countries such as Portugal, the first country to produce an ocean economy thematic account, the United States, Canada, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Ireland, Italy, Belgium, and France.

How are the experimental OECD estimates constructed?

The OECD Blueprint for Improved Measurement of the International Ocean Economy provides a definition of ocean economic activities for the purposes of scoping statistical measurement. The OECD Eight Lessons Learned from Comparing Ocean Economy Measurement Strategies Across Countries uses principles from the system of national accounts to highlight commonalities and differences in approaches and provides recommendations for integrating ocean economy measurements with national statistics.

The current OECD ocean economy statistics apply the definitions from the OECD Blueprint and many of the principles of national accounting from the OECD comparison to the measurement of international statistics on ocean economic activities. At present, statistics are estimated for 49 individual ocean economic activities, across 83 individual economies and 11 remaining groups of countries, for each year between 1995 and 2025. For marine and coastal tourism, the ocean economic activities included are based on the internationally agreed guidelines for tourism satellite accounts.

Each ocean economic activity is measured as distinct from all others so that ocean economic activities can be aggregated into wider groupings (Table 1). Estimates of the total ocean economy refer to the aggregation of all 49 currently measured ocean economic activities within a country. Estimates of the global ocean economy in this report refer to the aggregation of all currently measured ocean economic activities in all countries.

The estimation procedure uses a range of internationally comparable datasets with country-level data drawn from the supply and use tables underlying the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) database. The supply and use tables are not detailed enough for the ocean economy to be immediately read from their structure. A series of estimation procedures are therefore implemented to break down the product rows of the tables into ocean economy and non-ocean economy portions. The aggregate statistics presented from this report are estimated from these ocean economy extended supply and use tables. Given the tables latest year is 2024, all values for 2025 in this report are projections based on trends in the data leading up to 2025.

In keeping with the experimental nature of the OECD estimates, a methods and sources document detailing the OECD’s current approach to measuring the global ocean economy will be published.

Table 1. Ocean economic activity classification used in OECD estimates

Ocean economic activity	Ocean economic activity group	Part of the ocean economy	Total
Marine fishing	Marine fishing, marine aquaculture & marine fish processing	Marine fishing, marine aquaculture & marine fish processing	Total ocean economy
Marine aquaculture
Offshore extraction of crude petroleum	Offshore oil/gas extraction, mining & support services	Offshore energy & non-living marine resources
Offshore extraction of condensates
Offshore extraction of natural gas
Offshore mining of metal ores
Offshore other mining and quarrying
Offshore mining support service activities
Manufacture of marine food products	Marine fishing, marine aquaculture & marine fish processing	Marine fishing, marine aquaculture & marine fish processing
Manufacture of marine beverages
Manufacture of textiles (maritime equipment)	Maritime shipbuilding & maritime equipment manufacturing	Maritime industries
Manufacture of wearing apparel (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of leather and related products (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of paper and paper products (maritime equipment)
Printing and reproduction of recorded media (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of rubber and plastics products (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of basic iron and steel (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of basic precious and other non-ferrous metals (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of electrical equipment (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of machinery and equipment n.e.c. (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers (maritime equipment)	Maritime shipbuilding & maritime equipment manufacturing	Maritime industries	Total ocean economy
Building of sea and coastal ships and boats
Manufacture of other transport equipment except Building of ships and boats (maritime equipment)
Manufacture of furniture - Other manufacturing (maritime equipment)
Repair and installation of maritime machinery and equipment
Offshore wind electricity generation	Offshore wind, marine renewables, & seawater desalination	Offshore energy & non-living marine resources
Marine renewables electricity generation
Water collection, treatment and supply (desalination)
Civil engineering dredging of marine waterways	Maritime transport, maritime ports & marine waterway dredging	Maritime industries
Wholesale trade of ocean goods	Ocean education, R&D & goods distribution	Ocean education, R&D & goods distribution
Retail trade of ocean goods
Land transport and transport via pipelines (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)	Marine & coastal tourism	Marine & coastal tourism
Sea and coastal water transport	Maritime transport, maritime ports & marine waterway dredging	Maritime industries
Air transport (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)	Marine & coastal tourism	Marine & coastal tourism
Maritime ports warehousing and support activities for transportation	Maritime transport, maritime ports & marine waterway dredging	Maritime industries
Accommodation (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)	Marine & coastal tourism	Marine & coastal tourism
Food and beverage service activities (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)
Imputed rents of owner-occupied dwellings (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)
Ocean economy scientific research and development	Ocean education, R&D & goods distribution	Ocean education, R&D & goods distribution
Rental and leasing activities (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)	Marine & coastal tourism	Marine & coastal tourism
Travel agency, tour operator, reservation service and related activities (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)
Ocean education	Ocean education, R&D & goods distribution	Ocean education, R&D & goods distribution
Creative, arts and entertainment activities (marine and coastal tourism and recreation) - Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities (marine and coastal tourism and recreation) - Gambling and betting activities (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)	Marine & coastal tourism	Marine & coastal tourism
Sports activities and amusement and recreation activities (marine and coastal tourism and recreation)

Which economies are included in the OECD estimates?

The list of economies included in The Ocean Economy at a Glance 2026 matches the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) table database. The 2026 version of the OECD ICIO database includes 83 individual economies. In addition to the country-level statistics, a number of indicators are included that group countries into regional categories. Detailed country-level statistics are therefore available beyond this report. The regional statistics are based on the United Nations Statistics Division’s geographical regions for statistical use (the M49 standard) that have been split by OECD Membership (Table 2).

Table 2. United Nations regional groupings split by OECD Membership

Regional group	Countries and economies
Africa	Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, Tunisia, South Africa
Americas - non-OECD	Argentina, Brazil, Peru
Americas - OECD	Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, United States
Asia - non-OECD	United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, China (People's Republic of), Hong Kong (China), Indonesia, India, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Viet Nam
Asia - OECD	Israel, Japan, Korea, Türkiye
Europe - non-OECD	Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Malta, Romania, Russian Federation, Ukraine
Europe - OECD	Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sweden
Oceania - OECD	Australia, New Zealand

How have the OECD’s methods for measuring ocean economic activity advanced since previous publications?

The OECD estimates presented in this report are experimental, reflecting the OECD’s efforts to advance ocean economy measurement while internationally agreed guidelines continue to be developed. The results therefore change between publications as better source data become available, previous estimates are tested against new evidence, and methods are revised in line with advances made at country-level.

Since the release of The Ocean Economy to 2050 (OECD, 2025), for example, the number of individual ocean economic activities measured has increased from 33 to the 49 included in this report. New activities include mining of offshore metal ores and marine aggregates, seawater desalination, dredging of marine waterways, and ocean-related education. The methods for ocean-related coefficients have also improved across all activities, with more country-level source data introduced and more external validation checks added. Notable improvements in the source data for employment mean that the ocean economy employment statistics by activity are now built from a more detailed industry structure than before.

The OECD will continue to improve its estimates as data on the ocean economy and available methods improve. It also stands ready to support countries as they endeavour to create ocean economy thematic accounts and support efforts to produce a common set of standards internationally. If international guidelines are agreed and national statistical offices begin producing ocean economy statistics on a common basis, the OECD estimates for countries not producing official ocean economy statistics will be aligned accordingly.

Further reading

OECD (2025), The Ocean Economy to 2050, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/a9096fb1-en

Jolliffe, J. and C. Jolly (2024), “Eight Lessons Learned from Comparing Ocean Economy Measurement Strategies across Countries”, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, No. 2024/01, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1cb42a67-en

Jolliffe, J. et al. (2024), Blueprint for Improved Measurement of the International Ocean Economy, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/aff5375b-en

OECD (2019), Rethinking Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264311053-en

OECD (2016), The Ocean Economy in 2030, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264251724-en

OECD (2026), Inter-Country Input-Output tables, https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/inter-country-input-output-tables.html

United Nations (2026), Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49), https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/

OECD et al. (2017), Tourism Satellite Account: Recommended Methodological Framework 2008, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264274105-en