Burkina Faso: Transport services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Burkina Faso's transport services (% of commercial service exports) rose 1.78 percentage points on 2023 (from 15.52% to 17.3%).

Across the 18 yearly changes before that (2006 to 2023), the average change was +0.74 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.32 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above 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 12.08 percentage points in 2008 and the biggest yearly fall was 9.41 percentage points in 2010. 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 0.22 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 33% 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.

How it compares

In 2024, Burkina Faso had the 17th highest value of the 29 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 Burkina Faso in the 2024 ranking

• Malta — 14th of 29: 19.3%
• Kyrgyz Republic — 15th of 29: 17.88%
• Jordan — 16th of 29: 17.34%
• Niger — 18th of 29: 13.06%
• Bhutan — 19th of 29: 12.36%
• Sierra Leone — 20th of 29: 10.2%

What this measures

Transport is the process of carriage of people and objects from one location to another as well as related supporting and auxiliary services. Also included are postal and courier services. 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 20 values

Transport services (% of commercial service exports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 22.83% (2025)
• Benin — 28.57% (2023)
• Botswana — 8.43% (2025)
• Burundi — 7.92% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 11.09% (2025)
• Cameroon — 35.75% (2024)
• Comoros — 6.68% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 45.24% (2025)
• Congo, Rep. — 35.39% (2021)
• Côte d'Ivoire

More private sector & trade data for Burkina Faso

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 67.5% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$7.57 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$11.08 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 41.7% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$5.88 billion (2023)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 82.37% (2023)
• Merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (% of total merchandise exports)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Burkina Faso's transport services (% of commercial service exports)?

17.3% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2005?

It is up 15.09 percentage points from 2.21% in 2005. The highest value was 25.88% in 2009 and the lowest 2.21% in 2005.

How does Burkina Faso rank?

17th highest of 29 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in transport services (% of commercial service exports) unusual for Burkina Faso?

In 2024, Burkina Faso's transport services (% of commercial service exports) rose 1.78 percentage points on 2023 (from 15.52% to 17.3%). Across the 18 yearly changes before that (2006 to 2023), the average change was +0.74 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.32 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above 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 TX.VAL.TRAN.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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