# Any major countries with a closed economic system?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-major-countries-with-a-closed-economic-system/612957>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 15, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-major-countries-with-a-closed-economic-system/612957 "2012-02-15T19:32:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-major-countries-with-a-closed-economic-system/612957/21 "2012-02-16T23:44:46Z")

</div>

> [@jbaker](#):
>
> The closest thing to this that I can think of is Albania, which was radically self-sufficient in the 1970s and 1980s, although it did still have some trade with other countries. Of course, the country in consequence was poorer than most other European countries, so it was not a country that could do as well without imports and exports.

Albania was, roughly, the European North korea. It was self sufficient in the sense that Hodja had decided it would be, damn the consequences. It isn’t and wasn’t in any way “naturally” self-sufficient anymore than any random small country.

As for the OP, amongst western countries, it would be the USA who already exports and imports much less (in proportion of its GDP) than other industrialized nations. I’ve no clue how it would compare to large non western nations like China, Russia, India…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![aaaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@aaaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaaa)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-major-countries-with-a-closed-economic-system/612957/22 "2012-02-17T06:32:39Z")

</div>

Some tribes and villages have no outside contact:

> **[Uncontacted peoples](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_peoples)**
>
> Uncontacted peoples are groups of indigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. Legal protections make estimating the total number of uncontacted peoples challenging, but estimates from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the UN and the non-profit group Survival International point to between 100 and 200 uncontacted peop

But no countries as far as I know though. Even countries who do not like to admit it have a lot of trade going on with at least one other country.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2012, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-major-countries-with-a-closed-economic-system/612957/23 "2012-02-17T11:58:48Z")

</div>

> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I believe that North Korea WANTS to be this.

Perhaps not, in view of trade with China (as Exapno M. notes) and evidence that they counterfeit US money.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-major-countries-with-a-closed-economic-system/612957.md?page=1)