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The race to be Eastern Europe's biggest exporter

Race · 25 Oct 2026

Bar chart race of exports of goods and services in current US dollars, 1994 to 2025, for 12 Eastern European countries. Russia leads every year until 2022; Poland, in gold, starts 2nd and passes Russia in 2023. A note at 2022 marks the sanctions that followed the invasion of Ukraine. In 2025 Poland exports $521.4bn, Russia $468.3bn and Czechia $262.5bn.

Russia was Eastern Europe's biggest exporter every year from 1994 to 2022. Poland passed it in 2023, and in 2025 sold $521bn abroad, $53bn more than Russia, with a quarter of its population.

Source: World Bank (IMF balance of payments), 2025