Apple today announced that the App Store ecosystem facilitated $643 billion in billings and sales during 2020, a 24 percent year-over-year increase. An independent study by economists from the Analysis Group found that developers selling goods and services across many categories grew their businesses while reaching customers around the world.

App creators applied their creativity and passion to help people stay connected, healthy, and entertained — while theApp Store played a vital supporting role as developers adapted to the year’s challenges and brought new innovations to life.

The new study, “A Global Perspective on the Apple App Store Ecosystem,” takes an in-depth look at how the App Store supported small businesses, which have quickly become a thriving and inclusive engine of opportunity for economies around the world. The number of small developers worldwide has grown by 40 percent since 2015 — and they make up more than 90 percent of App Store developers. The study defines small developers as those with fewer than 1 million downloads and less than $1 million in earnings across all their apps in a given year.

“Developers on the App Store prove every day that there is no more innovative, resilient or dynamic marketplace on earth than the app economy,” says Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “The apps we’ve relied on through the pandemic have been life-changing in so many ways — from groceries delivered to our homes, to teaching tools for parents and educators, to an imaginative and ever-expanding universe of games and entertainment. The result isn’t just incredible apps for users: it’s jobs, it’s opportunity, and it’s untold innovation that will power global economies for many years to come.”