Burundi

The DHL Global Connectedness Index measures globalization based on international flows of trade, capital, information, and people. Predictably, people flows have suffered an unprecedented collapse in 2020. All other types of flows have held up surprisingly well, though. Trade and capital flows plunged at the onset of the pandemic but have already started to recover. And digital information flows have surged as people and companies have rushed to stay connected online. All in all, the DHL Global Connectedness Index is set to decline in 2020, but it is unlikely to fall below where it stood during the 2008-09 global financial crisis, based on our analysis of preliminary data and forecasts. Covid-19 has disrupted business and life around the world, but it has not severed the fundamental links that connect us across national borders. Our report shows a world of people, companies, and countries still prepared to join up and do business with each other. That’s good news because a more connected world still offers the best prospects to restore health and prosperity.

Data cited at: Gygli, Savina, Florian Haelg, Niklas Potrafke and Jan-​Egbert Sturm (2019): The KOF Globalisation Index – Revisited, Review of International Organizations, 14(3), 543-​574 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-​019-09344-2   original contribution introducing the KOF Globalisation Index: Dreher, Axel (2006): Does Globalization Affect Growth? Evidence from a new Index of Globalization, Applied Economics 38, 10: 1091-​1110.