Africa Western and Central: Ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Africa Western and Central's ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) fell 1.62 percentage points on 2023 (from 3.89% to 2.26%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1974 to 2023), the average change was +0 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.71 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3.09 percentage points in 1963 and the biggest yearly fall was 1.73 percentage points in 1973. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 13% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

Ores and metals comprise the commodities in SITC (Rev. 3) sections 27 (crude fertilizer, minerals nes); 28 (metalliferous ores, scrap); and 68 (non-ferrous metals). Exports of services are services provided by residents to non-residents. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of merchandise exports which is comprised of goods whose economic ownership is changed between a resident and a non-resident and that are not included in the following specific categories: goods under merchanting, non-monetary gold, and parts of travel, construction, and government goods and services n.i.e.

Limitations: Previous editions contained data based on the SITC revision 1. Data for earlier years in previous editions may differ because of the change in methodology. Concordance tables are available to convert data reported in one system to another.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 47 values

Ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 2.2% (2019)
• Algeria — 0.46% (2024)
• Bahrain — 64.78% (2024)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 4.99% (2025)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 4.66% (2023)
• Iraq — 0.00324% (2024)
• Israel — 1.55% (2025)
• Jordan — 8.5% (2024)
• Kuwait — 0.2% (2025)
• Lebanon

More private sector & trade data for Africa Western and Central

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 43.1% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$163.34 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$204.1 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 7.26% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 53.47% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 33.98% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Africa Western and Central's ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports)?

2.26% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1962?

It is down 2.17 percentage points from 4.43% in 1962. The highest value was 9.39% in 1966 and the lowest 1.62% in 2012.

Is the latest change in ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) unusual for Africa Western and Central?

In 2024, Africa Western and Central's ores and metals exports (% of merchandise exports) fell 1.62 percentage points on 2023 (from 3.89% to 2.26%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1974 to 2023), the average change was +0 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.71 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TX.VAL.MMTL.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Comtrade database, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Statistics Division; World Integrated Trade Solution system (WITS); Staff estimates, World Bank (WB) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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