Globalisation indicators, 2023 and 2024

Key statistics:

• Last year, the value of exports of goods and services amounted to 80.9% of GDP, and of imports of goods and services to 74.7% of GDP.
• At the end of 2024, the value of foreign direct investment in Slovenia was 34.2% of GDP, and of Slovenia’s direct investment abroad 15.7% of GDP.
• Last year, the indicator of trade integration of goods amounted to 62.2% and indicator of trade integration of services to 15.6%.
• The OECD indicator foreign value added in exports ranked Slovenia among the top ten states for more than five years.

Higher values of both exports and imports of goods and services

Compared with the previous year, the export value of goods and services grew by 2.1% and the import value by 2.5%. Slovenia thus remained among the top ten EU member states. The relative share for exports ranked Slovenia 7^th behind Luxembourg, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia and the Netherlands. As regards imports, Slovenia held 8^th place. Higher relative shares of imports were recorded by Luxembourg, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia, Belgium and Estonia.

Higher also the values of foreign direct investment in Slovenia and Slovenia’s direct investment abroad

Compared to previous year, foreign direct investment in Slovenia increased by 3.6% at the end of 2024. The share of foreign direct investment in Slovenia in GDP was 34.2%, i.e. 0.6 of a percentage point lower than in year 2023.
A year-on-year comparison shows that Slovenia’s direct investment abroad increased by 11.9%. The share of Slovenia’s direct investment abroad in GDP amounted to 15.7% or 0.9 of a percentage point more than at the end of 2023 (14.8% GDP).

Slovenia still significantly integrated in international trade

There were no major changes regarding integration in international trade. With the indicator of trade integration of goods (average of exports and imports of goods values as a share of GDP) of 62.2%, Slovenia remained 2^nd after Slovakia. As regards the indicator of trade integration of services (average of exports and imports of services values as a share of GDP), the value was 15.6% and ranked Slovenia without change in the middle among EU Member States (15^th place).

Among the most globalized states also according to the OECD

Slovenia’s high degree of globalisation and dependence on international trade is also indicated by the OECD indicator share of foreign value added in exports. According to the OECD study on foreign value added in the export of states 2025 edition (source: OECD; Trade in Value Added (TiVA) 2025 edition: Principal Indicators, shares), Slovenia’s share for the latest available reference year 2022 was 42.3%, which was significantly higher than both OECD members’ average (29.7%) and EU Member States’ average (37.1%). Compared with the shares of other OECD members, Slovenia was ranked 4^th, and compared with the shares of other EU Member States 6^th. The indicator showed growth also when compared with reference year 2021; the value grew by 4.6 percentage points.