ICC’s 2025 Arbitration Statistics Explained

The International Chamber of Commerce (the “ICC”) recently released its dispute resolution statistics for 2025 with 894 new cases registered, up from 841 new cases in 2024. In this article, we examine key metrics from the ICC’s 2025 data and developments to watch for in the future.

Accounting for some of the growth in ICC arbitrations is the number of parties in the United States and Canada turning to the ICC to administer their arbitrations.

In 2025:

• the United States and Canada accounted for 12.6% of parties in the new cases registered, of which 1.34% were Canadian;
• 10.7% of arbitrator appointments were nationals of the United States and Canada, of which 2.7% were Canadian; and
• 14.7% of cases included choice-of-law clauses for the United States or Canada, with Canadian provincial law selected as the governing law in 12 cases.

North America is an obvious potential growth area for ICC arbitrations. In Canada, domestic parties have traditionally favoured ad hoc arbitrations and have been less inclined to turn to institutions to govern their arbitrations.

One of the advantages of an institutional arbitration compared to ad hoc is that parties are less reliant on domestic courts to resolve disputes, particularly before the tribunal is constituted.

With the backlog for hearing and trial dates in courts across Canada, parties ought to consider the benefits of an institutional arbitration when drafting their arbitration agreements and dispute resolution clauses in contracts, more generally. 

Notable ICC Arbitration Statistics from 2025

The ICC's 2025 statistics demonstrate the continued prevalence of certain sectors, a broad range of dispute values, and sustained use of streamlined procedures.

Industry Sectors

Construction/engineering and energy disputes remained the two largest categories of new cases, accounting for 28% and 15% respectively. Other sectors included:

• Health and pharmaceuticals: 6%
• Transportation: 5.5%
• Telecoms and specialized technologies: 5%
• Industrial equipment and services: 4.8%
• Financing and insurance: 4.6%
• Business services: 4.4%
• General trade and distribution: 3.4%
• Leisure and entertainment: 2%

Amounts in Dispute

Approximately 50% of the cases filed and pending at year-end involved amounts in dispute between US$1 million and US$30 million. The average amount in dispute was just over US$50 million, illustrating that parties are turning to the ICC to resolve claims of varying amounts.

Expedited Proceedings

36% of new cases registered involved an amount in dispute not exceeding US$3 million, bringing them within scope of the expedited procedure provisions for arbitration agreements concluded on or after January 1, 2021 and before June 1, 2026.

Duration of Proceedings

In cases concluded by way of final award, the average duration of proceedings was 27 months and the median duration was 23 months.

Developments to Watch

With the ICC Arbitration Rules 2026 (the “2026 Rules”) having entered into force on June 1, 2026, it will be interesting to see what sort of uptake there is for ICC arbitrations in the years to come. 

As discussed in our article, 2026 ICC Arbitration Rules Explained: Key Changes for International Disputes, the 2026 Rules introduce a “highly expedited” procedure, allowing parties that “opt in” to resolve disputes within a compressed timeframe.

Moreover, the ICC’s existing expedited procedure has been expanded to increase the monetary threshold to US$4 million, thereby bringing a broader range of disputes into this streamlined procedural framework.

Finally, with the backlog in courts across Canada likely to continue affecting how quickly matters can be heard and ultimately resolved for the foreseeable future, institutional arbitration, with the ICC or other major arbitral institution, may gain more traction among parties who would have previously opted for an ad hoc arbitration or to litigate in the courts. We will continue to monitor how this landscape evolves over the coming years.