While US toy sales are a little more dire these days, The NPD Group’s latest report reveals the industry’s been faring much better on a global basis.

Though exchange rate effects brought about an overall decrease, the Global Toy Trends and Forecasts 2009 report found that worldwide toy market sales came in at US$78 billion in 2008, just a 0.8% decrease with the current exchange rates over 2007 – and considering constant exchange rates, the world toy market actually gained 2.3%, up US$2.4 billion.

At this rate, the NPD is expecting the worldwide toy sales to hit US$80.3 billion in 2012.

The report is a trend forecast of what The NPD expects the global toy industry to experience in the next few years, as well as insight into the economic impact and its effect on sales, and singling out countries forecasted to experience growth in both the kid population and toy sales.

It also found that the top 10 countries repped 65% of global toys sales in 2008, with North America taking the lead with 30% of worldwide toy sales, followed by Europe (29%) and Asia (27%). The world’s top toy market is the US with US$21.7 billion in sales, with Japan and China close behind with the most toy revenue in 2008

Other world trends include sales in Brazil, Russia, India, and China outpacing total market sales. Population-wise, the US and Europe represent 9% of the total kids population and 57% of the world’s toy consumers. Meanwhile, kids between zero and four is the demographic group expected to experience the most growth in the next four years.

Asia and Africa are also expected to contribute more to the world toy market in the next few years, with Asia likely to overtake the US and Europe by the end of 2012. That would then make North America the second largest market among global regions, with 28% of global sales, while Europe would rep 27%.