China releases latest World Openness Index, highlighting role of emerging forces

SHANGHAI -- The World Openness Index, gauging the openness levels of 129 economies from 1990 to 2024, was released on Wednesday at the eighth Hongqiao International Economic Forum in Shanghai.

In 2024, the World Openness Index was at 0.7545, down 0.05 percent from 2023, according to the index for last year.

The 2024 index was included in the World Openness Report 2025. First released in 2021, the index is compiled by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' (CASS) Institute of World Economics and Politics and the Research Center for the Hongqiao International Economic Forum.

The report, "Seeking New Consensus on Openness amid the Balance of Cooperation and Security," notes that openness and cooperation are the inevitable path for world peace and development.

Emerging markets and developing economies have become important powers in maintaining the world's openness, said Liao Fan, director of the CASS Institute of World Economics and Politics.

"The world's openness will rely more on emerging forces in the future," he said.

Between 1990 and 2024, China's openness index advanced from 0.5891 to 0.7634.

"China's opening-up practices and measures have become a certainty in the world's opening-up process, and constantly provide new growth drivers for economic globalization," said Wang Xuekun, director of the Research Center for the Hongqiao International Economic Forum.