Belize's merchandise trade (% of GDP) was 56.37% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 13.35 percentage points from 69.72% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 56.37% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 52.56% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 69.72% | 2015 |
| Highest | 144.27% | 1979 |
| Lowest | 49.74% | 1996 |
| Average since 2016 | 60.09% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 74.81% | 1960 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Belize's merchandise trade (% of GDP) fell 4.1 percentage points on 2024 (from 60.46% to 56.37%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.24 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.77 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.8 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 25.48 percentage points in 1975 and the biggest yearly fall was 42.87 percentage points in 1980. 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 3% 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, Belize had the 89th highest value of the 188 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.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Belize | 56.37% | 2025 |
| World | 43.89% | 2025 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 44.2% | 2025 |
| Upper middle income | 42.78% | 2025 |
Closest to Belize in the 2025 ranking
- Mauritius — 86th of 188: 57.42%
- South Africa — 87th of 188: 57.23%
- Timor-Leste — 88th of 188: 56.88%
- Chile — 90th of 188: 55.87%
- Naoero — 91st of 188: 55.67%
- Italy — 92nd of 188: 54.68%
What this measures
General merchandise trade includes 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. It is the total of merchandise exports plus merchandise imports. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 66 values
| Year | Merchandise trade (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 56.37 |
| 2024 | 60.46 |
| 2023 | 59.92 |
| 2022 | 66.71 |
| 2021 | 61.06 |
| 2020 | 52.56 |
| 2019 | 59.26 |
| 2018 | 61.64 |
| 2017 | 60.59 |
| 2016 | 62.33 |
| 2015 |
Merchandise trade (% of GDP) in nearby economies
- Antigua and Barbuda — 41.49% (2025)
- Argentina — 23.85% (2025)
- Aruba — 39.66% (2024)
- Bahamas, The — 35.58% (2024)
- Barbados — 33.14% (2025)
- Bolivia — 30.46% (2025)
- Brazil — 28.16% (2025)
- Cayman Islands — 26.44% (2024)
- Chile — 55.87% (2025)
- Colombia — 26.36% (2025)
- Costa Rica — 52.39% (2025)
More private sector & trade data for Belize
- Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$1.43 billion (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$444 million (2025)
- Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 54.97% (2023)
- Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Latin America & the Caribbean (% of total merchandise imports) — 24.64% (2023)
- Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.000074% (2023)
- Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$1.33 billion (2023)
- Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise imports) — 24.64% (2023)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Belize's merchandise trade (% of GDP)?
- 56.37% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1960?
- It is down 18.44 percentage points from 74.81% in 1960. The highest value was 144.27% in 1979 and the lowest 49.74% in 1996.
- How does Belize rank?
- 89th highest of 188 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in merchandise trade (% of GDP) unusual for Belize?
- In 2025, Belize's merchandise trade (% of GDP) fell 4.1 percentage points on 2024 (from 60.46% to 56.37%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.24 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.77 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.8 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 TG.VAL.TOTL.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Trade Organization (WTO); World Bank GDP estimates, World Bank (WB); World Development Indicators, 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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