This chapter presents an overview of new OECD international ocean economy statistics for 1995 to 2020 broken down by ocean economic activity group, country, region, and income group. These estimates provide a novel insight into the size, performance, and composition of the global ocean economy over a 25-year period and form the basis of the productivity analysis and foresight exercise detailed in subsequent chapters.
The Ocean Economy to 2050
Abstract
Effective measurement of the ocean economy requires comprehensive, comparable, and robust data to precisely analyse economic trends and reliably inform policymakers. Acquiring such data has proved to be a major obstacle in attempts to establish an accurate picture of the ocean economy, its constituent economic activities, and their performance over time. However, in recent years considerable progress has been made to improve the range, quality and accessibility of relevant economic statistics in a number of pilot countries and at international levels (Jolliffe and Jolly, 2024[1]; Jolliffe, Jolly and Stevens, 2021[2]; OECD, 2019[3]).
Such advances have enabled the OECD to establish the OECD Ocean Economy Monitor – a unique programme measuring the global ocean economy over time using harmonised country-level statistics. The current dataset covers 33 ocean economic activities and 142 coastal countries for the years 1995 to 2020. Please refer to the Reader’s Guide for more information on the methodology, classifications and country groupings used in this analysis.
Given the consistent measurement methods used, country-level statistics can be used to compare ocean economic activities within or across countries and aggregated to form estimates of larger groupings such as the global ocean economy. Thus, the OECD Ocean Economy Monitor opens a new frontier for comparable analyses of the ocean economy and its constituent activities, building a stronger evidence base to improve policy making.
This chapter draws on this newly established database to provide an overview of relevant ocean economy developments between 1995 and 2020. This was a period during which the global economy experienced spells of relatively stable growth, interspersed with global and regional economic shocks such as financial crises and, at the end, a global pandemic.
The ocean economy evolved markedly between 1995 and 2020, reflecting the real-terms expansion of many ocean economic activities. In its most aggregated form, global ocean economy gross value added (GVA) relative to that of the overall global economy remained relatively stable – ranging from about 3.0% in the late 1990s to a peak of 4.0% in 2008 before a post-financial crisis gradual decline towards 3.1% in 2020 (Figure 3.1).
Global ocean economy GVA doubled in real terms from 1.3 trillion USD in 1995 to 2.6 trillion USD in 2020, accruing an annual average growth rate of 2.8% (Figure 3.1). Economic growth remained stable for the most part without any prolonged periods of negative growth, suggesting the global ocean economy is resilient to large downturns in the face of economic shocks such as the 2008 financial crisis and Covid-19.
Ocean economy employment measured in full-time equivalents (FTEs) experienced an initial period of growth between 1995 and 2006 before registering consecutive years of shrinkage between 2007 and 2015 (Figure 3.1). At its peak, the ocean economy employed 151 million FTEs in 2006, gradually falling to 134 million FTE in 2019, and then to 102 million FTE in 2020. This translates to an average annual growth rate of negative 0.6% over the entire period. Any gains in FTEs accumulated between 2014 and 2019 were offset by a sudden fall in 2020 at the onset of Covid-19 precipitated by a severe decline in ‘marine and coastal tourism’. The annual average FTE growth rate is positive 0.4% if 2020 is removed from the analysis due to the disruption caused by Covid-19.
Global ocean economy real-terms gross value added and full-time equivalents in absolute terms, as a share of the global overall economy, and annual percentage growth rates
Note: In the first row, global ocean economy gross value added is given in chained volume measures. In the second row, global ocean economy gross value added is given in current price US dollars and employment in full-time equivalents as a share of global overall economy gross value added in current price US dollars and employment in full-time equivalents. In the third row, annual percentage changes are in global ocean economy gross value added chained volumes and employment full-time equivalents.
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
Annual growth across most ocean economic activity groups outpaced that of the average industry in the wider economy (Figure 3.2). Growth in ‘offshore wind and marine renewables’ increased especially rapidly since the mid-2000s reflecting large scale investments in offshore wind infrastructure in multiple countries as a means of reducing dependency on fossil fuels. Despite being the largest ocean economic activity group in GVA and FTE terms over much of the period, ‘marine and coastal tourism’ experienced limited growth until around 2012 when it began to perform better than the average overall industry. ‘Marine fishing, marine aquaculture, marine fish processing’ consistently performed at or below the overall economy industry average. Real-terms GVA in all ocean economic activity groups except ‘offshore wind and marine renewables’ and ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ declined in 2020 at the onset of Covid-19.
Global ocean economic activity group real-terms gross value added index and global weighted average industry real-terms gross value added index
Note: Gross value added chained volume indexes with a reference year of 2015 set so that 1995 equals 100 in Panel A and 2020 equals 100 in Panel B are calculated for each ocean economic activity group and the average industry. The weighted industry average is measured by calculating relevant industry group level real-terms growth rates, weighting each industry group by the share of its contribution to total overall economy gross value added, and chaining together. Panel B is based on 2020 because it is the first year in which offshore wind and marine renewables begins to produce gross value added according to the OECD Ocean Economy Monitor.
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
On average between 1995 and 2020, ‘marine and coastal tourism’ and ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ were the two largest global ocean economic activity groups by a substantial margin (Figure 3.3).
Real-terms GVA generated by ‘marine and costal tourism’ reached a peak of USD 1.06 trillion in 2019, before falling to USD 910 billion in 2020 due to restrictions on economic activity to combat Covid-19. ‘Offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ peaked in 2020, increasing from USD 789 billion in 2019 to USD 987 billion in 2020 and replacing ‘marine and coastal tourism’ as the largest ocean economic activity group in the process. Over the period, this corresponded to an increase in the share of global ocean economy GVA attributable to ‘offshore oil and gas and offshore industry’ from 19% in 1995 to 33% in 2020 and a decrease in that of ‘marine and coastal tourism’ from 51% to 40%.
‘Marine fishing, marine aquaculture and marine fish processing’, ‘maritime shipbuilding and maritime equipment manufacturing’, and ‘maritime industry trade, transport and R&D services’ all experienced steady, increasing trends before falling in 2020. GVA in ‘marine fishing, aquaculture and fish processing’ rose from USD 101 billion in 1995 to USD 195 billion in 2019 in real terms, before falling to USD 182 billion in 2020. ‘Maritime shipbuilding and maritime equipment manufacturing’ rose from USD 66 billion in 1995 to USD 165 billion in 2019, before falling to USD 157 billion in 2020. ‘Maritime industry trade, transport and R&D services’ rose from USD 17 billion in 1995 to USD 36 billion in 2019, before falling to USD 31 billion in 2020. The trend for ‘maritime transport and maritime ports’ was less smooth with the industry shouldering a drop of 18% in real-terms GVA from USD 272 billion in 2008 to USD 224 billion in 2009. This suggests a heightened vulnerability to economic shocks relative to other ocean economic activity groups.
Despite an impressive growth record (Figure 3.2), GVA in ‘offshore wind and marine renewables’ remained negligible compared to other ocean economic activity groups peaking at 0.1% of global ocean economy GVA in 2015. The activity group grew from USD 38 million in 2000 to USD 5 billion in 2020, exhibiting an annual average growth rate of 31%. This is much smaller in absolute terms to the second smallest ocean economic activity group – ‘marine and maritime industry trade, transport and R&D services' – whose GVA reached a peak of USD 36 billion in 2019. Thus, even though ‘offshore wind & marine renewables’ performed remarkably well over the period, it was still far from generating GVA at the same level of the dominant ocean economic activity groups. Huge additional output would be required for renewable energy generation to contend with offshore oil and gas extraction in terms of its contribution to the ocean economy.
In addition to being one of the largest contributors to global ocean economy GVA, ‘marine and coastal tourism’ consistently employed the greatest number of FTEs (Figure 3.3). ‘Marine and coastal tourism’ FTEs were over 78 million in 1995 and peaked at 95 million in 2003 before falling to 79 million in 2019. FTEs in ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture and marine fish processing’ were the second largest, reaching a high of 36 million FTE in 2011 before falling to 24 million in 2020.
The onset of Covid-19 provoked declines in FTE employment for all ocean economic activity groups except ‘offshore wind and marine renewables’. FTEs in ‘marine and coastal tourism’ were most severely affected as many countries abandoned a substantial proportion of tourism activities over this period. This phenomenon is illustrated by the fall in FTE from 79 million in 2019 to 51 million in 2020 (a year-on-year decline of 35%).
Global ocean economic activity group real-terms gross value added and full-time equivalents
Note: Global ocean economic activity group gross value added chained volume measures in the years 1995 and 2019. The year 2020 also given to show disruption caused by Covid-19. Note that chained volume measures are not additive (refer to the Reader’s Guide for more information).
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
The ocean economies of countries situated in ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’ were, on average, larger as a proportion of their overall economies than countries in other regions (Figure 3.4). In this region, the average ocean to overall economy GVA share ranged from 9% to 11% between 1995 and 2020. This trend is largely due to ‘offshore oil and gas and offshore industry’ generating substantial national income in several countries. Countries in ‘Southern Asia and Central Asia’, ‘South-eastern Asia and Oceania’, and ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’ also possessed relatively high ocean to overall economy GVA shares. At the other end of the spectrum, the average ocean economy comprised between 1% and 2% of overall economy GVA among countries in North America. These regional trends remained stable across the period, apart from in ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’ whose share increased in 2005 as a result of changes in commodity prices.
Marginal differences are observable between average country ocean to overall economy shares at income group level throughout the period. The average share in high income countries was slightly higher than in other income groups before 2010, averaging 8% between 1995 and 2010. However, from 2015 onwards the average share in all income groups converged to between 6% and 7%. This reflects the structure of countries at different stages of development. Primary industries such as agriculture, forestry and fishing contribute a higher share of the overall economy in low-income countries than in higher-income countries. While service-based industries are more predominant in high income countries with more diverse economies. On average, as a result, ocean economic activity in aggregate makes up a similar share of the overall economy across countries at different income levels.
Country-level total ocean economy to overall economy gross value added shares averaged by region and income group
Note: Total ocean economy gross value added as a share of overall economy gross value added in each country in each year is calculated and the arithmetic mean of each income group or region taken for each year. Each country within each income group or region is therefore evenly weighted in the average.
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
At regional level, ‘Eastern Asia’ and ‘Europe’ had the largest ocean economies in aggregate GVA terms on average over the period. Their relative strength, however, diminished over the period due to the increase in ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ originating from ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’. The proportion of ocean economy GVA stemming from ‘Eastern Asia’ and ‘Europe’ fell from 56% in 1995 to 40% in 2020, while that of ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’ increased from 10% in 1995 to 18% in 2020 (Table 3.1). Tangentially, the GVA share in ‘Southern Asia and Central Asia’ more than doubled over the period – rising from 3% in 1995 to 8% in 2019 – while in ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’ it almost doubled from under 2% to under 4% over the same period.
Concurrently, ‘Eastern Asia’ employed a higher share of global ocean economy FTEs than any other region at almost one-third throughout the period (Table 3.1). ‘Southern Asia and Central Asia’ and ‘South-eastern Asia and Oceania’ each employed around one-fifth of global ocean economy FTEs. ‘Europe’, on the other hand, employed relatively few FTE (despite generating high levels of aggregate GVA) with its share decreasing from 9% in 1995 to 6% in 2019. Despite the large GVA gains made by ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’, its share of FTE fell from 4% in 1995 to just under 2% in 2019. This can be explained by the importance of ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ relative to other ocean economic activity groups which employs relatively few FTEs in general.
Total regional ocean economy gross value added and full-time equivalents as a share of global ocean economy gross value added and full-time equivalents
Note: Total regional gross value added in current price US dollars divided by global ocean economy gross value added in current price US dollars and total regional full-time equivalents divided by global ocean economy full-time equivalents in the years 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2019. The year 2019 is used instead of 2020 due to distortions resulting from Covid-19. Shares may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
‘Marine and coastal tourism’ played a pivotal role in most regional ocean economies, comprising around half of total regional ocean economy GVA for most of the period in ‘Eastern Asia’, ‘Europe’, and ‘Northern America’ (Panel A of Figure 3.5). It also accounted for approximately one-third of GVA in ‘Latin America and the Caribbean’, ‘Southeastern Asia and Oceania’, ‘Southern Asia and Central Asia’, and ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’. The only region in which this was not the case was ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’, where ‘marine and coastal tourism’ accounted for roughly one-tenth of total regional ocean economy GVA over the period.
‘Offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ was the dominant activity group in ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’ and emerged as the largest in ‘Latin America and the Caribbean’, ‘South-eastern Asia and Oceania’, and ‘Southern Asia and Central Asia’ at different points between 1995 and 2019. The increasing share of ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ in the total was similar across countries reflecting the importance of commodity price changes in demand for fossil fuels. ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’ was particularly dependent on ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ with 80% of total regional ocean economy GVA stemming from this activity group in 2019.
In no region did the contribution of ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture, and marine fish processing’ to the total regional ocean economy exceed one quarter. Shares in the activity group are particularly low in ‘Europe’, ‘Northern America’, and ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’. ‘Southeastern Asia and Oceania’, which contains countries with large coastal populations as well as many Small Island States, relied most heavily on this activity group representing 17% of the region’s total ocean economy in 2019.
‘Maritime shipbuilding and maritime equipment manufacturing’ and ‘maritime ports and maritime transport’ collectively contributed around one-quarter of total regional ocean economy GVA in ‘Eastern Asia’, ‘Europe’, and ‘Northern America’.
Despite generating high shares of total regional ocean economy GVA, ‘offshore oil and gas and offshore industry’ employs relatively low shares of total regional FTEs (Figure 3.5). This is particularly notable in ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’ where the activity group dominates total regional ocean economy GVA shares but ranks behind ‘marine and coastal tourism’, ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture, and marine fish processing’ in equivalent FTE shares.
‘Marine and coastal tourism’ contributed the most to total regional FTEs across all regions (Panel B of Figure 3.5). Despite the significant contribution of ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ to total regional ocean economy GVA in ‘Latin America and the Caribbean’, ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’, ‘Southeastern Asia and Oceania’, and ‘Southern Asia and Central Asia’, FTE shares in this activity group remained consistently low. For example, in ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’ its highest contribution to total regional FTEs over the period was just under 9% in 2011.
The share of total regional ocean economy FTEs supported by ‘maritime transport and maritime ports’ in ‘Northern America’ rose from 16% in 1995 to 28% in 2019 while from 23% to 15% in ‘Eastern Asia’ over the same period. Conversely, ‘Eastern Asia’, ‘Northern Africa and Western Asia’, and ‘Southern Asia and Central Asia’ exhibited a gradual fall in the proportion of total regional ocean economy FTEs engaged in ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture, and marine fish processing’. In each of these regions, the FTE share decreased to half its initial value between 1995 and 2019.
Average regional ocean economic activity group gross value added and full-time equivalents as shares of regional ocean economy gross value added and full-time equivalents
Note: Regional ocean economic activity group gross value added in current price US dollars and full-time equivalents as a proportion of regional ocean economy gross value added in current price US dollars and full-time equivalents averaged over each five-year period between 1995 and 2019.
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
The share of global ocean economy GVA generated by high-income countries fell from 71% in 1995 to 52% in 2019 (Table 3.2). Upper-middle income countries, however, exhibited an impressive climb, contributing over one-third of global ocean economy GVA in 2019. Only a small share of global ocean economy FTEs was employed in high-income countries. This proportion ranged from 15% in 1995 to 12% in 2019. Just over half of global ocean economy FTEs were employed in upper-middle income countries in 2019, a five-fold increase compared to the share in 1995. A lesser increase was exhibited by lower-middle income countries, whose share increased from 23% in 1995 to 47% in 2005, before falling to 38% in 2019.
‘Marine and coastal tourism’ and ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ were the largest ocean economic activity groups across income groups. In high-income countries, ‘marine and costal tourism’ accounted for an average of 42% of total income group ocean economy GVA between 1995 and 2020. This share was 38% in upper-middle income countries, 34% in lower-middle income countries, and 40% in low-income countries. ‘Offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ comprised 31% of total income group ocean economy GVA between 1995 and 2020, 41% in upper-middle income countries, 20% in lower-middle income countries, and 18% in low-income countries.
Total income group ocean economy gross value added and full-time equivalents as a share of global ocean economy gross value added and full-time equivalents
Note: Total income group gross value added in current price US dollars divided by global ocean economy gross value added in current price US dollars and total income group full-time equivalents divided by global ocean economy full-time equivalents in the years 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2019. The year 2019 is used instead of 2020 due to distortions resulting from Covid-19. Shares may not add up to 100% due to rounding. The dramatic drop in shares from the low-income category occurs for two reasons. Firstly, between 1995 and 2019, the country composition of this group changed dramatically. For example, in 1995, China was a member of this group before moving up to the lower-middle income category in 1997 and the upper-middle income category in 2010. India was also a member of the low-income group until 2007, when it became a lower-middle income country. These two countries each contributed between one-third and half of all full-time equivalents in the low-income group, so their removal led to a substantial reduction in its share of global ocean economy full-time equivalents over time. Secondly, full-time equivalents in the subset of coastal countries remaining in the low-income category in 2019 cannot be calculated due to data limitations.
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
‘Marine fishing, marine aquaculture, and marine fish processing’ comprised a significantly larger share of GVA in low-income countries relative to their high and upper-middle income counterparts (Table 3.2). In high-income countries it comprised a mere 4% of the ocean economy on average. This increased to 8% for upper-middle income countries, 16% for lower-middle income countries, and 25% for low-income countries.
Total FTEs were dominated by ‘marine and coastal tourism’ across all income groups. The activity group accounted for 56% of total income group ocean economy FTEs in high-income countries, 66% in upper-middle income countries, 45% in lower-middle income countries, and 44% in low-income countries. The ‘marine and coastal tourism’ FTE shares were larger than GVA shares across all income groups, with this effect being more pronounced in upper-middle- and high-income countries. Average FTE shares in ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ never surpass 4% in any income group across the period.
Shares of ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture, and marine fish processing’ in total income group ocean economy FTEs consistently exceeded their GVA contributions, accounting for about one-tenth of total ocean economy FTEs in high- and upper-middle-income countries, and one-third in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Tangentially, FTE shares in ‘maritime transport and maritime ports’ were largest in high-income countries where it comprised almost one-quarter of total FTE. This share was lower in other income groups – 10% in upper-middle income countries, 14% in lower-middle income, and 12% in low-income.
Average ocean economic activity group gross value added and full-time equivalents as shares of total ocean economy gross value added and full-time equivalents averaged over income groups
Note: Income group ocean economic activity group gross value added in current price US dollars and full-time equivalents as a proportion of income group total ocean economy gross value added in current price US dollars and full-time equivalents averaged 1995 and 2019.
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
On average over the period, high-income countries generated over half the global GVA in all ocean economic activity groups except for ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture, and marine fish processing’. Just over one-third of global GVA in ‘marine fishing, aquaculture, and fish processing’ was generated in high-income countries, while upper and lower-middle income countries collectively produced just over half. Low-income countries – despite relying more on ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture, and marine fish processing’ in the structure of their ocean economies – contributed only 9% of its global GVA.
The contribution of high-income countries to global ocean economy FTEs was disproportionately lower than their contribution to global ocean economy GVA across all ocean economic activity groups. Total high-income country FTEs as a share of global ocean economic activity group FTEs were particularly low in ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture and fish processing’ (4%), ‘maritime industry trade, transport and R&D services’ (11%), ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ (14%), and ‘marine and coastal tourism’ (15%). Lower-middle income countries contributed to more than one-third of global FTEs across all ocean economic activity groups. Their contribution was particularly notable in the case of ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’, where these countries comprised 36% of global FTEs despite generating only 13% of global GVA in the activity group.
The People’s Republic of China (hereafter ‘China’) had the largest ocean economy in absolute terms at USD 462 billion in 2020 – around a sixth of the global ocean economy – having grown from USD 77 billion in 1995 (Figure 3.7, Panel A). (See the Reader’s Guide for the set of individual countries included in this analysis.) China was also the fastest growing ocean economy with an average annual growth rate over the period of just under 8%. All other countries in the top ten followed a relatively stable growth path over the period, accentuating the divergence of the Chinese ocean economy which, by 2020, was valued at over three times that of the US, the second largest ocean economy in the world. Six OECD countries are included in the top ten in terms of real-terms GVA: the United States, Japan, Norway, United Kingdom, Italy, and Mexico. When considering only OECD countries in the ranking, the remaining four in the top ten are Australia, France, Germany, and Spain.
Country-level total ocean economy real-terms gross value added and total ocean to overall economy gross value added shares
Note: Coastal countries appearing in the OECD Inter-Country Input Output database are ranked according to their average total ocean economy real-terms gross value added and their ocean to overall economy current price gross value added shares across the period. Annual real-terms gross value added and ocean to overall economy shares for the top five countries in this ranking are displayed in the charts.
Source: OECD Ocean Economy Monitor, January 2025.
Norway had the largest ocean economy as a share of its overall economy with the ocean to overall economy share hitting a peak of 33% in 2006 before falling to 23% in 2020 (Figure 3.7, Panel B). The remaining countries in the top ten ocean economies in terms of their share of the overall economy were: Saudi Arabia, Iceland, Egypt, Cyprus, Viet Nam, Singapore, Nigeria, Malta, and Greece. The only countries to be included in the top ten for both absolute values and relative shares of GVA are Norway and Saudi Arabia, both of which were heavily reliant on ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ throughout the period.
The onset of Covid-19 led to a decline in real-terms GVA for most countries. The sharpest declines were observed in the United States and the United Kingdom, with real-terms GVA falling from USD 166 billion to USD 131 billion (-21%), and USD 129 billion to USD 97 billion (-25%) respectively between 2019 and 2020. Most of this downturn can be attributed to ‘marine and coastal tourism’. The resilience of some countries to the disruption caused by Covid-19 can be explained in part by their relatively low levels of ‘marine and coastal tourism’ as a share of their total ocean economies.
This analysis presents an overview of the key developments in the global ocean economy between 1995 and 2020, broken down geographically and by ocean economic activity group. Over this period, the ocean economy comprised between 3% and 4% of total global GVA, doubling in real terms from 1.3 trillion USD to 2.6 trillion USD, accruing an annual average growth rate of 2.8%. Employment in the ocean economy reached a peak of 151 million FTE in 2006, gradually falling to 134 million FTE in 2019, and then to 102 million FTE in 2020. ‘Marine and coastal tourism’ and ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ were the ocean economic activity groups that contributed the most GVA to the ocean economy.
‘Marine and coastal tourism’ was the largest employer by a wide margin, with ‘offshore oil and gas extraction and offshore industry’ contributing relatively little to employment despite its considerable influence on GVA. This result holds across all regions and income groups. ‘Europe’ and ‘Eastern Asia’ generated the highest share of GVA in aggregate across most ocean economic activity groups, while the ratio of FTE employment to GVA was greatest in ‘Eastern Asia’ and ‘Southern Asia and Central Asia’. High income countries generated the highest share of global GVA across all ocean economic activity groups apart from ‘marine fishing, marine aquaculture and fish processing’, yet comprised a markedly small proportion of global FTEs.
Meanwhile, at country level, China was the largest individual ocean economy and comprised one-sixth of the global ocean economy in 2019. Norway was the largest in relative terms, with the ocean economy representing 23% of its overall economy GVA in 2020.
The above analysis of long-term global and regional developments across the ocean economy and its activities primarily focused on economic output and employment. Their interplay is an important factor in determining productivity levels. The following chapters of the report explore how productivity in the ocean economy evolved since the mid-1990s and the role that current trends could play in its evolution until 2050.
References
[1] 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. 2024/1, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/1cb42a67-en.
[2] Jolliffe, J., C. Jolly and B. Stevens (2021), “Blueprint for improved measurement of the international ocean economy: An exploration of satellite accounting for ocean economic activity”, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, No. 2021/04, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/aff5375b-en.
[3] OECD (2019), Rethinking Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264311053-en.