Barbados: Fuel imports (% of merchandise imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Barbados' fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) fell 5.95 percentage points on 2024 (from 22.66% to 16.71%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.47 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.64 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 25.65 percentage points in 2011 and the biggest yearly fall was 16.98 percentage points in 2007. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 7% 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

In 2025, Barbados had the 31st highest value of the 103 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Barbados in the 2025 ranking

• Sri Lanka — 28th of 103: 17.79%
• South Africa — 29th of 103: 17.67%
• Dominican Republic — 30th of 103: 17.59%
• Angola — 32nd of 103: 16.4%
• Lithuania — 33rd of 103: 16.25%
• Chile — 34th of 103: 15.51%

What this measures

Fuels comprise the commodities in SITC (Rev. 3) section 3 (mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials). This indicator is expressed as a percentage of merchandise imports which is comprised of goods whose economic ownership is changed between a non-resident and a 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 55 values

Fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) in nearby economies

• Antigua and Barbuda — 0.68% (2024)
• Argentina — 4.02% (2025)
• Aruba — 5.91% (2023)
• Bahamas, The — 16.28% (2024)
• Belize — 13.78% (2025)
• Bolivia — 29.72% (2025)
• Brazil — 11.09% (2025)
• Chile — 15.51% (2025)
• Colombia — 8.25% (2025)
• Costa Rica — 10.26% (2024)
• Cuba

More private sector & trade data for Barbados

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 33.14% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$2.23 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$428 million (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 87.11% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 5.7% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Latin America & the Caribbean (% of total merchandise imports) — 7.19% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in South Asia (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.52% (2023)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Barbados's fuel imports (% of merchandise imports)?

16.71% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1967?

It is up 8.05 percentage points from 8.66% in 1967. The highest value was 30.95% in 2012 and the lowest 1.27% in 2004.

How does Barbados rank?

31st highest of 103 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) unusual for Barbados?

In 2025, Barbados' fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) fell 5.95 percentage points on 2024 (from 22.66% to 16.71%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.47 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.64 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TM.VAL.FUEL.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.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.