Benin: Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Benin's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports) rose 6.64 percentage points on 2022 (from 4.79% to 11.43%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1993 to 2022), the average change was −0.14 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.69 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 21.72 percentage points in 2018 and the biggest yearly fall was 13.96 percentage points in 2019. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 5% 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 2023, Benin had the 4th highest value of the 13 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 Benin in the 2023 ranking

• Libya — 1st of 13: 96.1%
• South Sudan — 2nd of 13: 12.35%
• Guyana — 4th of 13: 10.48%
• Lebanon — 5th of 13: 9.46%
• Senegal — 6th of 13: 5.16%

What this measures

Financial services covers services related to financial intermediation, financial risk management, liquidity transformation or auxiliary financial activities. It also includes insurance and pension scheme services which are services related to providing life insurance and annuities, non-life insurance, reinsurance, pensions, standardised guarantees and auxiliary services to insurance, pension schemes, and standardised guarantee schemes. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service exports which are commercial services provided by residents to non-residents.

Limitations: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data.

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

All 47 values

Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 0.00779% (2025)
• Botswana — 0.32% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 18.16% (2024)
• Burundi — 15.63% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 0.35% (2025)
• Cameroon — 3.95% (2024)
• Comoros — 1.44% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 0.43% (2025)
• Congo, Rep.

More private sector & trade data for Benin

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 36.39% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$4.95 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$3.99 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 41.44% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.0000205% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$3.91 billion (2023)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 11.55% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports) — -0.0000000000000113% (2023)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Benin's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports)?

11.43% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1974?

It is up 7.35 percentage points from 4.08% in 1974. The highest value was 25.74% in 2018 and the lowest 0.51% in 2003.

How does Benin rank?

4th highest of 13 economies with data for 2023.

Is the latest change in insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports) unusual for Benin?

In 2023, Benin's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports) rose 6.64 percentage points on 2022 (from 4.79% to 11.43%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1993 to 2022), the average change was −0.14 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.69 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TX.VAL.INSF.ZS.WT, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF) 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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