Economic Community of West African States

Exports (2022)$154B
Imports (2022)$190B
Main Exporter (2022)Nigeria $70.7B
Main Importer (2022)Nigeria$67.6B
Internal Trade (2022)8.53%of total trade

About

Overview ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) is a Regional Group composed by Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Togo, Niger, Liberia, Benin, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, and Cape Verde. In 2022, ECOWAS exported $154B (0.65% of global exports) and imported $190B (0.8% of global imports). Its largest exporter, Nigeria exported $70.7B, which corresponds to 46.1% of the total exports. On the other hand, the largest importer, Nigeria, imported $67.6B, which is 35.7% of the total imports of Economic Community of West African States.

Trade In 2022, ECOWAS's most exported products were Crude Petroleum Oils ($58.2B), Unwrought Non-Monetary Gold ($33.2B), Liquefied Natural Gas ($8.27B), Bituminous Petroleum Distillates (Excl. Crude) ($5.23B), and Cocoa Beans (Raw/Roasted, Whole/Broken) ($5.08B). The same year, the most imported products were Bituminous Petroleum Distillates (Excl. Crude) ($46B), Cargo Vessels (Excl. Tankers & Refrigerated) ($8.05B), Tankers ($3.61B), Crude Petroleum Oils ($3.29B), and Rice, semi-milled or wholly milled ($3.02B).

Partners In 2022, ECOWAS's exports went primarly to United Arab Emirates ($18.1B), India ($16.3B), Switzerland ($14.9B), Spain ($10.6B), and China ($9.55B). The same year, ECOWAS's imported primarily from China ($53.7B), India ($16.7B), Belgium ($11.5B), Netherlands ($10.5B), and South Korea ($8.27B).

Historical Data

Organization Composition

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Flow
Y-AXIS SCALE
Value

The following section shows the trade patterns over time for all the countries that comprise the organization, using historical dataset.

Yearly Exports of ECOWAS

Internal Trade

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Depth
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Internal Trade includes all trade between the countries that comprise this organization.

In 2022, the top internal exports of ECOWAS were Refined Petroleum ($3.28B), Crude Petroleum ($2.87B), Palm Oil ($449M), Electricity ($427M), and Cement ($374M).

The same year, the principal destinations of internal exports were Mali ($3.11B), Cote d'Ivoire ($3.02B), Burkina Faso ($1.51B), Togo ($1.26B), and Ghana ($1.03B).

Internal Exports (2021)
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Internal Destinations (2021)
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External Trade

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Depth

External trade includes all world trade excluding the countries that comprise this organization.

In 2022, the top external exports of ECOWAS were United Arab Emirates ($18.1B), India ($16.3B), Switzerland ($14.9B), Spain ($10.6B), and China ($9.55B).

The same year, the principal destinations of external exports were Crude Petroleum ($55.4B), Gold ($37.1B), Petroleum Gas ($9.01B), Cocoa Beans ($5.08B), and Aluminium Ore ($4.73B).

External Exports (2021)
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External Destinations (2021)
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Total Trade

Flow
Color
Depth
Top Export (2022)Crude Petroleum$58.2B
Top Destination (2022)United Arab Emirates$18.1B

In 2022, ECOWAS exported a total of $154B. During the last five reported years the exports of ECOWAS have changed by $47.7B from $106B in 2017 to $154B in 2022.

The most recent exports are led by Crude Petroleum ($58.2B), Gold ($37.3B), Petroleum Gas ($9.18B), Refined Petroleum ($5.23B), and Cocoa Beans ($5.08B). The most common destination for the exports of ECOWAS are United Arab Emirates ($18.1B), India ($16.3B), Switzerland ($14.9B), Spain ($10.6B), and China ($9.55B).

Exports (2021)
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Destinations (2021)
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Largest Export by Country

Indicator

The following visualization shows the principal export per country, the product which has grown the most over the past 5 years or the product in which the country has a higher level of specialization, measured by the RCA Index.

Biggest export by country (2021)

Trade between organizations

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Depth

This visualization show trade between international organizations. The default selection shows the trade with the rest of the world.

Exports (2021)

Destinations (2021)

Economic Complexity

Complexity and Country Indicators

Indicator

This visualization compares the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) with different indicators about country development such as GDP per capita or Inflation. For more information about ECI, check the Methods page.

In 2022, the countries with higher complexity that belong to Economic Community of West African States were Benin (-0.41), Senegal (-0.5), Niger (-0.68), Togo (-0.88), and Cote d'Ivoire (-1.03).

On the other hand, the countries with higher GDP per capita were Cape Verde ($3.9k), Cote d'Ivoire ($2.49k), Nigeria ($2.18k), Ghana ($2.18k), and Senegal ($1.6k).

Finally, the biggest exporters of ECOWAS were Nigeria ($70.7B), Ghana ($20B), Cote d'Ivoire ($17.5B), Guinea ($10.4B), and Burkina Faso ($8.2B).

GDP per capita v/s ECI for countries that comprise Economic Community of West African States (2022)

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