Emerging economies now take 42% of China's electric car exports
China's exports of battery electric cars by value, emerging vs advanced economies (IMF groups), 2023 vs 2025.
- 1. China now builds more ships than everyone else combined
- 2. China makes more electricity than the US and EU combined
- 3. China installs more robots than everyone else combined
- 4. China is building half the world's new reactors
- 5. China switched on 80% of the world's new coal power
- 6. China's vehicle exports grew sevenfold in five years
- 7. Six of the world's ten busiest ports are in China
- 8. China completed six in ten of 2025's new skyscrapers
- 9. China has more metro track than the next six combined
- 10. China refines most of the minerals of the future
- 11. China's new housing starts have fallen 74% since 2019
- 12. China is building more power capacity than everyone else combined
- 13. China now emits more CO2 per person than Japan
- 14. Nearly 20 million Shanghai residents live in a flood zone
- 15. Fewer countries owe China more than the World Bank
- 16. Anhui tripled vehicle output as most of China's hubs shrank
- 17. 20 of China's 31 provinces have more deaths than births
- 18. Emerging economies now take 42% of China's electric car exports
Share of China's electric car exports, by value, that went to emerging economies in 2025, up from 24.8% in 2023.
What emerging economies bought in 2025, up from $8.5bn, while rich economies' purchases fell from $25.7bn to $21.0bn.
Indonesia's purchases in 2025, up from $0.03bn in 2023: China's car makers are finding their growth outside the rich world.
the numbers & method
| Emerging economies (bn) | Advanced economies (bn) | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 8.5 | 25.7 |
| 2025 | 15.4 | 21.0 |
Claim types Fact · Interpretation
UN Comtrade, annual goods trade, reporter China (156), exports, HS 870380 (motor cars with only an electric motor for propulsion), primaryValue (FOB, current US$), every partner, read from the Comtrade public API (2025: the source link, 182 records whose partners sum exactly to the world total of $36.396bn; 2023: same query with period=2023, world $34.130bn, all 168 partner records). Advanced economies = the IMF's Advanced Economies group as listed in the October 2026 WEO Database Appendix (data.imf.org), plus Bulgaria (in the advanced aggregates from 2026); Comtrade partner 490 (Other Asia, nes) counted as Taiwan Province of China; emerging economies = every other partner, including Comtrade 'Areas, nes' (899; $0.084bn in 2023, about 1% of the group). Context: the EU's countervailing duties on Chinese battery electric cars apply from October 2024. US$ bn, 2023 / 2025: advanced 25.657 / 21.022; emerging 8.473 / 15.374. Indonesia 0.030 / 1.972. Shares are progrss calculations. Values, not units; not adjusted for prices. Takeaway 3's reading is an interpretation. Related: plate 019 (China's vehicle exports grew sevenfold). Licence: UN Comtrade data, attribution required.
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