The Vital Socioeconomic Importance of Oceans

As written in the newly published State of the Oceans 2024 report - a collaboration between Statista and the German Ocean Foundation - "oceans are an essential component of the planet’s ecosystem - for oxygen, food, and water - and it is impossible to sustain life on Earth without them." As this infographic using data from the report highlights though, these enormous bodies of water have a massive economic importance, too.

The direct global economic output of marine fisheries, coral reefs, seagrass and mangroves was $6.9 trillion in 2020, while the global seafood market is estimated to have a value of $81.2 billion in 2023. Additionally, the marine trade and transportation sector generated $5.2 trillion worldwide in 2020.

The economic value attributable to the oceans' absorption of carbon emissions alone comes to $4.3 trillion.

Find out more by downloading the free State of the Oceans 2024 report.