Atlas of Economic Complexity
GovernmentThe Atlas of Economic Complexity is a research project from Harvard Growth Lab that analyzes global trade patterns and economic structure. It processes official UN Comtrade trade data to measure how diversified and sophisticated each country's economy is, based on what they export. The datasets include bilateral trade flows between countries and economic complexity indicators that rank countries by industrial sophistication. Data spans from 1995 to 2024 and uses standardized trade classifications (HS92). The project combines raw government trade statistics with novel analytical frameworks to help researchers and policymakers understand economic development patterns.
Pinned datasets
Bilateral Trade Flows (Exporter-Importer Pairs)
Want to know how much the US exports to Japan, or how European countries trade with each other? This data shows exactly that for every country pair in the world going back to 1995. When countries report their trade numbers, they sometimes disagree on the amounts, so researchers cleaned it up to give you one reliable figure per country pair per year. Use this to spot who trades with whom, see if trade is growing or shrinking, or compare how much different countries depend on each other.
Economic Complexity by Country and Year
Countries don't all export the same things. Some produce simple commodities like raw materials, others make complex electronics and machinery. This data measures how 'sophisticated' each country's exports are and how diversified their economy is. It also flags which countries are positioned to grow by moving into more complex products. If you're curious whether an economy is getting more advanced, or which countries are likely to grow faster, this is where that signal shows up.