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Royal Sunset Island Resort at 'Atata Island, 30 min boat ride from Tongatapu.

Photo: Haanofonua derivative work: Massimo Telò · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale

Topic 12 of 18 · Country Index 2026

Tonga: Mobility & Trade

How connected is a country to the rest of the world?

Tonga is placed joint 55th of 177 countries on mobility & trade in the Country Index 2026, from 2 of its 4 key statistics. Readings behind it: Liner Shipping Connectivity Index 28.14 (2025); Container Import Dwell Time 1.9 (2024).

Mobility & Trade

joint55th

of 177 countries placed

Placed from 2 of 4 key statistics

Country Index 2026, all topics85th of 180 →

01The evidence

The 4 key statistics that decide it

Only these place Tonga on mobility & trade — one vote each. Every value is the publisher’s own, read at the edition the Country Index 2026 used; the grey ticks are every other country it was compared with, lowest on the left.

Why these keys

  1. Key 1 of 4

    Liner Shipping Connectivity Index

    UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

    Why it is a key: How much of the world's container shipping actually calls at a country's ports — the infrastructure side of connectedness, where logistics performance is the paperwork side.

    2025 edition · data for 2025 · CC BY 3.0 IGO

    28.14

    LSCI (index, average Q1 2023 = 100)

    Higher is better

    Ranked 121st of 177 by UNCTAD

    Tonga: 28.14. Across the 168 countries in this edition, values run from 4.13 (Turks and Caicos Islands) to 1,313 (China); the world median is 60.84.

    World median
    60.84
    Best in Polynesia
    39.02 French Polynesia

    Each grey tick is one of 168 countries in the 2025 edition.

  2. Key 2 of 4

    Container Import Dwell Time

    World Bank Group

    Why it is a key: How long an imported container waits in port before it moves on — a measured, not surveyed, reading of how efficiently ports, customs and carriers let goods cross a border.

    2024 edition · data for 2024 · CC BY 4.0

    1.9

    Median days a full import container waits in port

    Lower is better

    Tonga: 1.9. Across the 156 countries in this edition, values run from 1 (Gibraltar) to 21.6 (Haiti); the world median is 4.4.

    World median
    4.4
    Best in Polynesia
    1.9 Tonga

    Each grey tick is one of 156 countries in the 2024 edition.

  3. Key 3 of 4

    Logistics Performance Index

    World Bank Group

    Why it is a key: How efficiently goods actually cross a country's borders, ports and customs.

    2023 edition · data for 2023 · CC BY 4.0

    No reading

    LPI score (1–5)

    Higher is better

    World Bank Group publishes no 2023 figure for Tonga, so the standing rests on the other keys.

    Across the 139 countries in this edition, values run from 1.9 (Afghanistan) to 4.3 (Singapore); the world median is 2.9.

    World median
    2.9

    Each grey tick is one of 139 countries in the 2023 edition.

  4. Key 4 of 4

    ICT Goods Exports

    UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

    Why it is a key: How far a country is plugged into global technology trade.

    2024 edition · data for 2024 · CC BY 3.0 IGO

    No reading

    ICT goods exports (% of total goods exports)

    Higher is better

    UNCTAD publishes no 2024 figure for Tonga, so the standing rests on the other keys.

    Across the 120 countries in this edition, values run from 0 (Gambia) to 61.45 (Hong Kong); the world median is 0.975.

    World median
    0.975
    Best in Polynesia
    3.43 Samoa

    Each grey tick is one of 120 countries in the 2024 edition.

03In context

Tonga beside its neighbours

A position reads best beside the countries around it. Every position below is a place among all 177 countries on mobility & trade, never a place within the region.

Polynesia
1st177thNot placed · 47 countries with too few key statisticsNo data

The whole world on mobility & trade

Tonga and Polynesia

Tonga has no land border, so the table compares it with its sub-region. The standing is each country’s place among all 177 placed on the topic; the other columns are the publishers’ own values, read at the edition the standing used.

CountryStandingLiner Shipping Connectivity IndexLSCI (index, average Q1 2023 = 100)Container Import Dwell TimeMedian days a full import container waits in portLogistics Performance IndexLPI score (1–5)ICT Goods ExportsICT goods exports (% of total goods exports)
Tonga=55th28.141.9——
Samoa73rd29.433.8—3.43
French Polynesia122nd39.024.6—0.13
American Samoa151st26.336.8——
Cook Islandsnot placed8.244———
Niuenot placed5.762———
Tuvalunot placed4.195———

“—” means the publisher gives no reading for that country in that edition. A country needs readings on enough keys to be placed.

Across Polynesia

Every country in the sub-region, by its place among all 177.

Placed either side on mobility & trade

The countries immediately above and below Tonga in the topic’s list.

04Context, no vote

Where Tonga is ahead of the world, and behind

14 more statistics filed under mobility & trade, published in full and deliberately given no vote in the standing. Select a row for the publisher, the rank and the links.

Every country

Ahead of the world median1

Statistics on which Tonga does better than the middle country measured.

  • ICT Services ExportsUNCTAD · 2024 · world median 7.47410.17▲ Improved since 2014

    Tonga: 10.17 · world median 7.474 · ICT services exports (% of services exports). UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 56.25; higher is better.

    Position 44th of 118 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

Behind the world median3

Statistics on which Tonga does worse than the middle country measured.

  • Cost of Sending RemittancesWorld Bank Group · 2023 · world median 3.2254.097▼ Worsened since 2016

    Tonga: 4.097 · world median 3.225 · Average cost of sending $200 home (% of the amount). World Bank Group, 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from -49.69 to 19.63; lower is better.

    Position 32nd of 93 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = worst. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Digitally-Deliverable Services ExportsUNCTAD · 2024 · world median 25.4212.45▲ Improved since 2014

    Tonga: 12.45 · world median 25.42 · Digitally-deliverable services exports (% of services exports). UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.377 to 87.15; higher is better.

    Position 124th of 170 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = best. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • Average Time to Clear Exports Through CustomsWorld Bank Group · 2025 · world median 4.45614No earlier reading

    Tonga: 14 · world median 4.456 · Average time to clear exports through customs (days). World Bank Group, 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 1 to 27.46; lower is better.

    Position 15th of 174 — derived here by ordering the published values, 1st = worst. The publisher ranks no country on this.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

No better end10

These describe the shape of a country — more is not better or worse, only different — so they are never ahead or behind.

  • Outbound Mobility Ratio, TertiaryUIS · 2023 · world median 5.27926.53Moved since 2020

    Tonga: 26.53 · world median 5.279 · Outbound mobility ratio, tertiary (% of tertiary enrolment at home). UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.333 to 1,724.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

  • Tariff Rate, Applied, Weighted Mean, All ProductsWorld Bank Group · 2022 · world median 3.666.44Moved since 2012

    Tonga: 6.44 · world median 3.66 · Applied tariff rate, trade-weighted mean (%). World Bank Group, 2022 edition, data for 2022.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 29.52.

    Chart and every countryThe 2022 dataset

  • Commodity Export DependenceUNCTAD · 2024 · world median 67.1777.02Moved since 2014

    Tonga: 77.02 · world median 67.17 · Commodity exports (% of merchandise exports, three-year average). UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 4.605 to 99.77.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • International Migrants as a Share of PopulationUN DESA Population Division · 2024 · world median 6.0893.437Moved since 2015

    Tonga: 3.437 · world median 6.089 · International migrants (% of population). UN DESA Population Division, 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.02 to 100.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • Export Concentration IndexUNCTAD · 2025 · world median 0.3060.214Moved since 2015

    Tonga: 0.214 · world median 0.306 · Export concentration index (0–1, normalised Herfindahl–Hirschman). UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2025 edition, data for 2025.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.059 to 0.933.

    Chart and every countryThe 2025 dataset

  • EmigrantsUN DESA Population Division · 2024 · world median 444,45153,237No real change since 2015

    Tonga: 53,237 · world median 444,451 · Migrants from the country living abroad, mid-year (people). UN DESA Population Division, 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 313 to 18,533,845.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • Creative Services ExportsUNCTAD · 2024 · world median 6.1710.136Moved since 2014

    Tonga: 0.136 · world median 6.171 · Creative services exports (% of services exports). UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 0.002 to 63.91.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • Merchant Fleet by Country of OwnershipUNCTAD · 2026 · world median 275.730.538Moved since 2016

    Tonga: 0.538 · world median 275.73 · Merchant fleet owned (thousand dead-weight tons). UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), 2026 edition, data for 2026.

    Published values in that edition run from 0 to 397,071.

    Chart and every countryThe 2026 dataset

  • International MigrantsUN DESA Population Division · 2024 · world median 223,3233,581No real change since 2015

    Tonga: 3,581 · world median 223,323 · International migrants living in the country, mid-year (people). UN DESA Population Division, 2024 edition, data for 2024.

    Published values in that edition run from 246 to 52,375,047.

    Chart and every countryThe 2024 dataset

  • Net Migration RateUN DESA Population Division · 2023 · world median -0.133-20.77No real change since 2013

    Tonga: -20.77 · world median -0.133 · Net migrants per 1,000 population. UN DESA Population Division, 2023 edition, data for 2023.

    Published values in that edition run from -61.68 to 39.62.

    Chart and every countryThe 2023 dataset

No current reading for Tonga

Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, Cereal Import Dependency Ratio (last 2021), Container Port Traffic (last 2019), Creative Goods Exports (last 2023), Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, Exports of Goods and Services (% of GDP) (last 2024), Foreign Value Added Share of Gross Exports, Freedom of Foreign Movement, ICT Goods Exports (last 2023), Imports of Goods and Services (% of GDP) (last 2024), Inbound Mobility Rate, Tertiary (last 2020), Logistics Performance Index, Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, Services Exports (last 2024) and Trade (% of GDP) (last 2024). Listed rather than hidden, so the page can be checked against it.

05Country Index 2026

Mobility & Trade among Tonga’s 15 topics

Mobility & Trade is Tonga’s 3rd best-placed topic of 15. Strongest first; each marker sits at the position divided by that topic’s field, so fields of different sizes compare fairly.

On the profile
  1. Poverty & Inequality15th of 159
  2. Education & Knowledge39th of 196
  3. Mobility & Tradejoint 55th of 177
  4. Health & Wellbeing67th of 200
  5. Democracy & Civil Liberties77th of 198
  6. Gender & Equality94th of 183
  7. Environment & Sustainabilityjoint 93rd of 181
  8. Work & Labourjoint 103rd of 182
  9. Risk & Resilience113th of 193
  10. Development & Human Capital115th of 196
  11. Governance & Institutions124th of 194
  12. Food & Agriculture112th of 175
  13. Energy140th of 193
  14. Digital & Technology159th of 198
  15. Economy & Innovation146th of 176

No standing on Peace & Security: too few of those topics’ key statistics are published for this country.

06The top of the list

Who leads on mobility & trade

The three countries placed highest of 177, and the leaders Tonga can most readily be measured against.

All 177 countries
  1. 1

    Singapore

    South-eastern Asia

    1st of 177 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: Khairul Nizam . · CC BY 2.0, greyscale

  2. 2

    Macau

    Eastern Asia

    2nd of 177 · 2 of 4 keys

    Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale

  3. 3

    Hong Kong

    Eastern Asia

    3rd of 177 · 4 of 4 keys

    Photo: Base64 and Derivative work by Globe-trotter · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale

Placed highest nearby

  1. Highest in Oceania

    Australia23rd4/4 keys

  2. Highest in Polynesia

    Tonga=55th2/4 keys

Positions out of 177 placed on the topic. A country needs readings on enough keys to be placed, and the top of the list is often held on fewer of them.

07Analysis

Charts and analysis about Tonga and mobility & trade

All charts

08Questions

Tonga on mobility & trade: questions answered

Every answer is built from the numbers on this page, so none can say something the page does not.

How does Tonga rank on mobility & trade?

Tonga is placed joint 55th of 177 countries on Mobility & Trade in the Country Index 2026, from 2 of its 4 key statistics (Liner Shipping Connectivity Index and Container Import Dwell Time). The position is this site’s ordering of published statistics, not a rank any publisher printed.

What is the latest Liner Shipping Connectivity Index figure for Tonga?

28.14 in 2025 (lSCI (index, average Q1 2023 = 100)), according to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The world median in the same edition was 60.84.

What is the latest Container Import Dwell Time figure for Tonga?

1.9 in 2024 (median days a full import container waits in port), according to World Bank Group. The world median in the same edition was 4.4.

How have Tonga’s mobility & trade figures changed?

Liner Shipping Connectivity Index rose from 22.1 in 2006 to 28.14 in 2026; ICT Goods Exports rose from 0.02 in 2000 to 1.37 in 2023.

Which mobility & trade statistics are missing for Tonga?

No current reading is published for Tonga on Asylum-Seekers by Country of Asylum, Cereal Import Dependency Ratio, Container Port Traffic, Creative Goods Exports, Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index, Exports of Goods and Services (% of GDP), Foreign Value Added Share of Gross Exports, Freedom of Foreign Movement, ICT Goods Exports, Imports of Goods and Services (% of GDP), Inbound Mobility Rate, Tertiary, Logistics Performance Index, Refugee Population by Country of Asylum, Services Exports and Trade (% of GDP). They are listed rather than hidden, so the evidence on the page can be checked against it.

09Keep reading

Explore further

Mobility & Trade

Tonga, topic by topic

10Method

Method, sources and how to cite

What this topic does not measure

Passport strength and freedom of movement for people are not measured with a key, because the data behind passport rankings is not licensed for reuse here. Trade as a share of the economy, remittance costs and student mobility are published here as context.

About mobility & trade, in full

How the Mobility & Trade standing is decided, step by step

A standing is a place in a list, not a mark out of anything. This one is part of the Country Index 2026, and it is worked out like this.

  1. A few key indicators decide it; the rest are context. 4 indicators on this topic are keys and 27 are charted alongside them without a vote. That split is the point: if every statistic voted, importing five more of one kind would quietly change what the topic is about.
  2. Each key is read at one edition. ⚠ The keys behind this standing do not all describe the same year — they run from 2023 to 2025, because publishers release on their own schedules. Read the standing as “how this country places now”, not as a snapshot of one year.
  3. Every country’s published value is turned into a place within that one key’s own field, and then expressed as a share of that field — how far down this key’s list the country sits, rather than how many countries are above it. Keys where a higher published number is worse (terrorism, hunger, disaster risk) are turned round first, so the good end is always the same end.
  4. Dividing by the field first is the whole reason this works. A place carries the size of its list inside it: 22nd of 44 and 108th of 215 are the same showing, and averaging the numbers 22 and 108 says loudly that they are not. Fields on this site run from about 44 countries to about 215, so averaging raw places would reward a country for happening to be measured in small ones. Dividing each place by its own field removes the size and leaves only the showing.
  5. The shares are averaged, plainly. One key, one vote — no key is weighted above another, because any weighting would be this site’s opinion presented as a measurement. Countries are then put in order by that average, and the average itself is never published. It is our arithmetic with nothing anchoring it, so printing it would invite it to be read as a measurement somebody made. The position it produces, the band, and the keys it was built from are all published instead — every one of them checkable against the tables on this page.
  6. A country needs 2 of this topic’s 4 keys — half, rounded up, and never fewer than 2. A standing built from one reading, printed beside one built from four, is two different things sharing a column heading. 177 countries clear the bar here.
  7. A key has to earn its vote every edition. It must measure at least 120 countries (below that it starts measuring who was surveyed rather than the world), it must not have more than 10% of its field tied at either end, and it must not repeat another key in the same topic — Spearman correlation above 0.92 counts as repeating. A topic needs at least 2 surviving keys to place anyone at all; this one has 4.
  8. A standing is relative, and the grouping is ours. It says where a country places against the others measured alongside it, so it moves when they move. The publishers listed on this page did not agree to be read together, and each measures its subject its own way: the underlying numbers are theirs, the ordering on top is this site’s — the same method as the rest of the Country Index, applied to one subject instead of all of them.

The key statistics and their licences

The other 14 statistics on this page come from 4 publishers, each named beside its numbers, with every edition and licence on the datasets pages.

The standing itself is part of the Country Index 2026, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Photographs

Tonga’s banner and the countries placed highest, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.

Cite this page

Nations Inquiry (2026). Tonga: Mobility & Trade — standing and statistics, Country Index 2026. https://nationsinquiry.com/countries/tonga/mobility

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