Bhutan: Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Bhutan's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) rose 3.37 percentage points on 2023 (from 7.99% to 11.36%).

Across the 17 yearly changes before that (2007 to 2023), the average change was +0.28 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.73 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.8 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 5.25 percentage points in 2021 and the biggest yearly fall was 1.84 percentage points in 2022. 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 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.94 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 81% of the movement over 10 observed years.

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

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 13.3% for 2027. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2022 to 2024 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 1.19%, against 1.74% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2024, Bhutan had the 8th highest value of the 27 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 Bhutan in the 2024 ranking

• Bahamas, The — 4th of 27: 12.67%
• Kyrgyz Republic — 5th of 27: 11.72%
• Jordan — 6th of 27: 11.67%
• Sierra Leone — 8th of 27: 10.07%
• Cameroon — 9th of 27: 9.36%
• Liberia — 10th of 27: 9.19%

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 imports which are commercial services provided by non-residents to 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 19 values

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

• Bangladesh — 5.6% (2025)
• India — 2.94% (2025)
• Maldives — 6.49% (2025)
• Nepal — 4.9% (2025)
• Sri Lanka — 2.12% (2025)

More private sector & trade data for Bhutan

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 83.28% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$2.18 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$800 million (2025)
• International tourism, number of arrivals — 29,800 (2020)
• International tourism, receipts (current US$) — US$84 million (2020)
• Import unit value index (2015 = 100) — 132.5 (2025)
• Export unit value index (2015 = 100) — 150.3 (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 4.9% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports)

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 Bhutan's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports)?

11.36% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2006?

It is up 8.15 percentage points from 3.21% in 2006. The highest value was 11.36% in 2024 and the lowest 2.11% in 2008.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TM.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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