China Leads the World in Posted Packages

The 13 biggest shipping markets in the world were responsible for 161 billion posted packages in 2022, an increase of 1 percent compared to the previous year, according to the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index. While the B2B shipping and mailing company has been predicting a continuous, healthy growth of parcel volume for years, the effects of the coronavirus lockdowns in China in 2022 hampered growth after a banner year for e-commerce in 2021, caused in part by stay-at-home mandates and movement restrictions. Even with the situation in the country, the People's Republic was again at the forefront of parcels shipped this past year.

As our chart shows, the East Asian nation shipped 110.6 billion packages in 2022 alone. The U.S. and Japan came in second and third with about 21 billion and 9 billion parcels, respectively, showcasing minimal growth compared to 2020. Even though the gap between the United States and China in parcel volume remains significant, the U.S. leads in another relevant segment. With a revenue of $198 billion generated through shipping services in 2022, the country claimed first place ahead of China and Japan.

The rise of e-commerce platforms like Alibaba has been one of the main factors in the growth of the courier, express and parcel (CEP) sector even before the boost afforded by COVID-19. In the United States alone, revenue increased by nearly $90 billion from 2017, while the total CEP industry generated an estimated worldwide revenue of $485 billion in 2022.