Viet Nam overtook Japan in consumer electronics exports
Exports of consumer electronic equipment (TV, audio and video gear), US$ billion, 2013–2023, as reported by each country.
- 1. China leads research in 57 of 64 critical technologies
- 2. China's international patent filings grew sixfold since 2010
- 3. Nearly half of top AI researchers studied in China
- 4. China's research spending rose from 12% to 88% of America's
- 5. China spends more importing chips than crude oil
- 6. Two in three working satellites are now Starlinks
- 7. Irish data centres now use more power than city homes
- 8. Indians now file more patents at home than Germans
- 9. India published more science papers than Germany and Britain combined
- 10. Brazilians now use Pix more often than all cards combined
- 11. Poland's digital service exports grew fivefold in a decade
- 12. Africa now holds 32 of the 38 mostly offline countries
- 13. Viet Nam climbed from 30th to fifth in computer exports
- 14. Caracas home internet has caught up with Mexico City's
- 15. Mexico replaced China as America's top computer supplier
- 16. India went from 2% to 42% of America's smartphone imports
- 17. 56 countries got their first satellite after 2010, 51 before
- 18. Billion-dollar digital service exporters rose from 35 to 60
- 19. India joined the top ten buyers of processor chips
- 20. Russia's share of rocket launches fell from 57% to 5%
- 21. Sichuan fell from first to fourth among China's computer makers
- 22. Companies putting satellites in orbit rose fivefold in ten years
- 23. GitHub developers grew fastest in poorer countries, led by Nigeria
- 24. Mobile data became affordable in 36 more countries since 2021
- 25. Viet Nam overtook Japan in consumer electronics exports
Viet Nam's consumer electronics exports in 2023, up from $1.6 bn in 2013: 21st in the world in 2013, third in 2023, behind China and Mexico.
Japan's exports in 2023, down from $8.6 bn in 2013. Viet Nam drew level with Japan in 2017 and passed America in 2020 ($10.2 bn vs $8.6 bn).
Viet Nam's share of the world's consumer electronics exports in 2023, up from 0.8%: assembly of TVs and audio gear moved south.
the numbers & method
| Year | Viet Nam (bn) | Mexico (bn) | United States (bn) | Japan (bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 1.6 | 20.4 | 11.5 | 8.6 |
| 2014 | 2.0 | 20.7 | 11.6 | 7.1 |
| 2015 | 3.1 | 20.7 | 11.2 | 5.8 |
| 2016 | 4.7 | 17.1 | 10.8 | 5.8 |
| 2017 | 6.6 | 17.2 | 12.0 | 6.6 |
| 2018 | 7.7 | 16.2 | 11.2 | 7.3 |
| 2019 | 8.7 | 17.3 | 10.5 | 6.5 |
| 2020 | 10.2 | 16.3 | 8.6 | 6.5 |
| 2021 | 12.5 | 18.4 | 9.0 | 7.0 |
| 2022 | 14.3 | 16.6 | 9.9 | 6.1 |
| 2023 | 15.3 | 17.1 | 11.2 | 5.8 |
Claim types Fact · Interpretation
UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Data Hub, 'ICT goods: Bilateral trade by category - Value and share - Annual' (US.IctGoods, version 10002, last updated 18 Nov 2025), category 'consumer electronic equipment' (OECD 2010 ICT goods list adapted to the HS by UNCTAD and UNSD: mainly TV, radio, audio and video equipment; phones, computers and electronic components are separate categories), exports to the world, US$ at current prices, read from the UNCTADstat API (unctadstat-api.unctad.org/datamart-api/US.IctGoods) via the progrss vault (GUIDELINES §4.11: unctadstat, 14 matching value checks, 0 mismatches). Values, US$ million, 2013 / 2017 / 2018 / 2020 / 2023: Viet Nam 1,553.6 / 6,575.8 / 7,699.7 / 10,170.6 / 15,345.9; Japan 8,614.7 / 6,572.9 / 7,331.0 / 6,463.7 / 5,779.7; United States 11,502.2 / 11,963.5 / 11,228.8 / 8,611.4 / 11,224.1; Mexico 20,406.4 / 17,216.5 / 16,227.7 / 16,309.4 / 17,106.5. In 2017 Viet Nam edged past Japan by US$3 million (6,575.8 vs 6,572.9) and has been ahead every year since. Ranks and shares are progrss calculations among countries reporting to UNCTAD each year: Viet Nam 21st of 161 in 2013 and 3rd of 156 in 2023; world total (sum of reporting countries) US$206.4 bn in 2013 and US$212.4 bn in 2023. 2023 is Viet Nam's latest year: UNCTAD's 2024 data (121 reporters so far) does not yet include Viet Nam; Japan's 2024 exports were US$4.78 bn and America's US$11.41 bn. No break is visible at the HS 2017 or HS 2022 revisions in the four series shown. Hong Kong exports are mostly re-exports. Values are current dollars, as reported by each exporting country. Country of export says where goods left, not which firm made them; the plate makes no claim about why production moved (takeaway 3's 'moved south' is Interpretation). Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO, credit UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Data Hub. Live re-read: the UNCTAD page could not be fetched in this run; every value was re-read from the vault by an independent checker (§4.11).
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