To help countries benchmark and reduce the time and cost of trading across border, the UN Regional Commissions jointly conduct the UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. The Survey currently covers 128 economies around the globe, and 53 measures related to the WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), as well as emerging regional and global initiatives on paperless trade or e-trade, such as the recent Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (FA-CPT). The Survey leads to the production of a Global Report and five Regional Reports, which aim at providing insightful information for policy makers to harness trade as a key means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Survey is conducted in collaboration with growing number of global and regional partners, since 2015 and every two years. On this website you can visualize the results - please make a selection:
Get an overview of global survey results on chart or map, with the option to narrow down on specific regions.
Select a geographic region / regional UN Commission and display regional & sub-regional results.
Select any economy of interest and get a detailed overview of trade facilitation & paperless trade implementation.
Compare a selection of economies on implementation of trade facilitation & paperless trade measures.
Get an insight into most and least implemented measures within a selection of economies of interest.
Download the global and regional UN Global Survey reports, as well as individual economy briefs.



On this page, you can visualize global results separated by regions and country groupings. If you click on the name of a particular region/grouping (e.g., South-East and East Asia), you will be able to view Trade Facilitation Scores of economies in this region/grouping. If you would like to omit a particular measure group (e.g., Institutional Arrangement and Cooperation), simply click on the name of the respective measure group in the chart below.
Once you have clicked on a grouping of interest, you can sort the list of economies by total score or the score on a particular measure group, by simply clicking the corresponding buttons in the grey area above the chart. If you click on the name of a particular economy, you will be able to view the Trade Facilitation Score composition of that economy in detail.
You can also visualize global data on a world map.




The scores of will be compared against averages of implementation scores of the following groupings:

The scores of will be compared against implementation scores of the economies you set in the next step (maximum 5 economies).

Name for the custom group:

Compare and selected economies on Transparency, Formalities, Institutional Arrangement & Cooperation, Paperless Trade, and Cross-Border Paperless Trade average scores.



The scores of will be compared against averages of implementation scores of the following groupings:

The scores of will be compared against implementation scores of the economies you set in the next step (maximum 5 economies).

Name for the custom group:

Compare and selected economies on Transparency, Formalities, Institutional Arrangement & Cooperation, Paperless Trade, and Cross-Border Paperless Trade average scores.



The scores of will be compared against averages of implementation scores of the following groupings:

The scores of will be compared against implementation scores of the economies you set in the next step (maximum 5 economies).

Name for the custom group:

Compare and selected economies on Transparency, Formalities, Institutional Arrangement & Cooperation, Paperless Trade, and Cross-Border Paperless Trade average scores.


On this page, you have the option to compare your economy of interest with other economies or groupings of interest and visualize trade facilitation measures by degree of implementation in a spider graph. Simply select the economies and implementation measures you are interested in and a visualization will be generated.
If you would like to generate a custom ranking of most and least implemented measures of your selection of economies of interest, please navigate to the Most/Least Implemented page.









On this page, you have the option to rank trade facilitation measures by degree of implementation. Simply select the implementation measures and economies you are interested in and a visualization will be generated.
If you would like to generate a ranking of economies by total trade facilitation score or by measure grouping (e.g., "Institutional arrangement and cooperation"), please navigate to the regional or global data pages: once you select a region there, you have the option to sort the view by means of the buttons above the graph.




Compare a selection of economies on implementation of your custom selection of trade facilitation & paperless trade measures.
Get an insight into most and least implemented measures within a selection of economies or country groupings of interest.
Please contact the Trade, Investment and Innovation Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific using the contact details highlighted on this page or use the contact form on the right side.
Please contact the United Nations Regional Commissions, including ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA, by using the contact form on the right side of this page or otherwise using the contact details listed below.
Global reports
Regional & country reports

- 2019 regional, sub-regional & country reports
- 2017 regional, sub-regional & country reports
- 2015 regional, sub-regional & country reports

- 2019 regional report
- 2017 regional & country reports
- 2015 regional report

- 2019 regional report
- 2017 regional report
- 2015 regional report

- 2019 regional report
- 2017 regional report
- 2015 regional report

- 2019 regional report not yet available
- 2017 regional report not yet available
- 2015 regional report
The United Nations Regional Commissions, including ECA, ECE, ECLAC, ESCAP and ESCWA, have been conducting the Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation (formerly known as the UN Global Survey on Trade Facilitation and Paperless Trade Implementation) since 2015 to review the progress of trade facilitation reforms in their respective Member States. The initiative, led and coordinated by ESCAP, supports the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, as well as emerging regional and global initiatives on paperless trade or e-trade, such as the recent Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-Border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific (FA-CPT). Cooperation among the UN Regional Commissions and other UN and relevant regional and sub-regional organizations is key to the success of the Global Surveys. Interested organizations, industry associations, academia, research institutes and other stakeholders, are very welcome to join the initiative.

The survey covers a WTO TFA+ set of over 50 trade facilitation measures categorized into seven groups, namely: General trade facilitation measures; Paperless trade; Cross-border paperless trade; Transit facilitation; Trade facilitation and SMEs; Trade facilitation and agricultural trade; and Women and trade facilitation. A group of measures related to trade finance was also pilot tested in 2019. The general trade facilitation measures as well as the transit facilitation measures are essentially measures featured in the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA).
The survey is fact-based rather than perception-based. A three-step approach to data collection and validation is generally followed, implemented over a 6-month period every 2 years: Step (1) Open data collection from experts; Step (2) Data verification by UN Regional Commission Secretariats; and Step (3) Data validation by national governments. For more details on the methodology, please refer to the global and regional reports, which are available for 2015, 2017 and 2019.
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