VIENNA, 12 October 2022 - Two and a half years after the onset of COVID-19, how did industrial sectors fare during the pandemic? Which regions and industries were most impacted, and which ones emerged stronger? Which of the ongoing industrial megatrends accelerated? What new trends are arising in the post-pandemic industrial landscape? These and other questions are answered in the newly-released International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics 2022, the main statistical publication of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

As Gerd Müller, Director General of UNIDO, says “data and statistics are cornerstones of industrial development...National and international development plans are relying more and more on evidence-based policymaking.”

The 28th edition of the International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics presents a snapshot of the current state of industrial sectors around the world, including a comprehensive account of the impact of COVID-19 in different regions and on different industries and the ensuing recovery. All insights are presented in the Yearbook through dashboards, visualizations and concise analysis.

For example, the Yearbook shows how global manufacturing was strongly impacted by the COVID-19 crisis in the first half of 2020, but quickly bounced back in 2021, attaining its highest growth since 2010 with a remarkable 7.2 per cent increase. Higher-tech industries, especially, showed a rapid recovery, led by the manufacture of computers, electronics and optical products. In fact, this has quickly become the world’s largest manufacturing sector.

The report’s figures and statistics highlight that manufacturing remains the backbone of economic development and that industrial capabilities play a fundamental role in building resilience. However, industrial recovery remains uneven across the world. Countries with stronger capabilities and more diversified industrial sectors have generally weathered both the economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic better than others.

The Yearbook also gives insights into regional developments. For example, it shows that Asia’s share of manufacturing production has increased from 26 per cent in 1990 to 54 per cent in 2021, confirming that COVID-19 accelerated the ongoing redistribution of manufacturing towards that continent.

The publication also presents the latest results of UNIDO’s Competitive Industrial Performance (CIP) Index, highlighting that Germany and China remain the two economies with the most competitive industry, but also pointing out the overall sustained rise of Asia in terms of industrial competitiveness. A summary of the latest progress on SDG 9 is also included.

In addition to manufacturing, industry also includes the mining and utilities sectors. Together, they account for more than one-fifth of the global economy in terms of value added. The Yearbook features a detailed analysis of these sectors, showing that their recovery has been more sluggish than that of manufacturing. In particular, mining had not yet reached pre-pandemic levels by the end of the first quarter of 2022.

Starting with this issue, the newly redesigned Yearbook features an annually-changing thematic chapter. In 2022, this chapter is devoted to the role of industry in the sustainable development of least developed countries (LDCs), reflecting the most recent commitments agreed for these economies in the Doha Programme of Action for 2022-2031. Although LDCs comprise 14% of the world’s population, they make up for only one per cent of manufacturing value added. The chapter presents a statistical profile of industrial sectors in this group of economies, identifying challenges and gaps through relevant benchmarks.

The publication closes with a call for strong policy support when it comes to empowering national statistical systems in collecting and compiling relevant high-quality data according to internationally harmonized standards.

UNIDO Director General Müller notes that UNIDO’s 2022 Yearbook “serves as an indispensable introduction to the rich databases maintained by UNIDO and sheds light on the world of industrial development.”

The Yearbook is published in a digital format and is available here.

All underlying data are freely available on the UNIDO Statistics data portal.

For more information, please contact UNIDO Statistics.