Global Service Industry in 2025: Digital Momentum, Slower Growth, and New Marketplaces

The global service economy in 2025 remains the backbone of worldwide growth. Even as overall GDP expansion cools compared to the post-pandemic rebound, services continue to account for the largest share of global economic activity and employment. From finance and logistics to IT outsourcing, health, tourism, and household services, the service industry in 2025 is still where much of the real economic action happens.

At the same time, the nature of services is changing. Digitalization, cross-border trade in data, and rapid advances in AI are reshaping how services are produced, delivered, and consumed. For policymakers and businesses alike, the big question is no longer whether the service sector will dominate the economy, but how it will evolve — and who will benefit from that evolution.

A Cooling but Resilient Global Service Economy

Recent international indicators suggest that global growth is slowing slightly from earlier peaks, reflecting higher financing costs, trade frictions, and a softer investment environment. Yet the global service economy has proved more resilient than many expected.

Trade in services, especially commercial services exports, continues to grow in the mid single-digit range. While that pace is more moderate than in the immediate recovery years, it still signals structural expansion rather than temporary spikes. Services linked to travel and tourism, logistics, and healthcare are gradually normalizing, even as households and firms become more cautious in their spending.

Looking ahead, most 2026 forecasts point to a similar pattern: modest but positive global growth overall, with services remaining a stabilizing force. The sector’s share of GDP and employment in many economies — often around two-thirds of total activity — is expected to remain firmly in place.

Digitally Delivered and Knowledge-Intensive Services in the Spotlight

Within this broad picture, not all service categories are moving at the same speed. The fastest-growing segments are digitally delivered services and knowledge-intensive business services.

Digitally delivered services include cloud computing, software development, remote IT support, digital design, online education, and a growing range of AI-enabled solutions. These activities can be exported without the physical movement of people or goods, allowing countries with strong digital capabilities to reach global markets with relatively low marginal cost.

Knowledge-intensive business services — such as management consulting, engineering, legal, financial, and scientific services — are also expanding. These activities are central to productivity and innovation, and they often sit at the intersection of technology, data, and human expertise. For many firms, spending on such services is no longer a discretionary add-on but part of core strategy.

Meanwhile, more traditional in-person services — from hospitality and retail to local repairs and personal care — are growing at a steadier, sometimes slower pace. They remain essential to everyday life but are more exposed to local economic conditions and household budgets.

Regional Shifts and New Service Hubs

Advanced economies still host the highest concentration of service-sector activity, often with services representing more than 70% of national GDP. But the geography of services is changing. Emerging markets are building stronger positions in telecommunications, business process outsourcing, tourism, logistics, and digital services.

South and Southeast Asia have become important hubs for IT-enabled and remotely delivered services, leveraging skilled labor, competitive costs, and improving connectivity. Several Latin American and African economies are also laying the groundwork to climb the value chain in services, focusing on digital infrastructure, local skills, and more open regulatory frameworks.

Marketplaces and Matchmaking in the Service Economy

As services become more tradable and more digital, online marketplaces play a bigger role in connecting supply and demand. Traditionally, many platforms have focused on narrow segments (for example, home improvement or freelance digital work) and rely heavily on pay-per-lead or commission models.

In parallel, newer platforms are experimenting with different approaches that respond to growing concerns about transparency, rising marketing costs, and the complexity of managing multiple local and global channels. These platforms try to bring together local and digitally delivered services, while lowering entry barriers for smaller providers.

ServiceOrca.com as an Example of the Next Wave

One example of this new generation of marketplaces is ServiceOrca.com, a global, free-to-list platform built specifically for the service sector. Rather than limiting itself to a single vertical, it covers a wide spectrum of services — from construction and home repairs to legal, accounting, marketing, and IT support.

ServiceOrca’s own analysis of the global service economy, “Service Industry in 2025: Global Data & 2026 Forecasts” , highlights many of the same dynamics shaping the sector today: the rise of digitally delivered services, the importance of knowledge-intensive business services, and the steady structural role of the service sector in global GDP and employment.

Platforms like ServiceOrca are trying to align with these trends by emphasizing open access for providers, direct contact between businesses and customers, and ranking systems that look at performance and relevance rather than just advertising spend. For small firms and independent professionals, this kind of model aims to reduce dependence on expensive lead-buying systems and create a fairer playing field.

What to Watch Going Into 2026

As 2026 approaches, the outlook for the global service industry will hinge on a mix of macro and micro factors: the trajectory of inflation and interest rates, the pace of digital adoption, regulatory responses to AI, and the ability of workers and firms to adapt to new technologies.

What seems clear, however, is that the global service economy will remain a central pillar of growth. The combination of digital delivery, cross-border trade in know-how, and rising demand for specialized expertise ensures that services will continue to occupy a dominant share of economic activity.

Whether through large multinational providers or smaller specialists visible on platforms such as ServiceOrca, the next phase of service-sector development will be defined by how effectively the world can connect people who need help with those who know how to provide it.