Cameroon: Food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing)

Key figures

Over five years it is up 5.89 percentage points from 46.72% in 2019. Since 1970 it is up 2.18 percentage points from 50.44% in 1970. The World Bank has no value for 13 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2024, Cameroon's food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) rose 0.67 percentage points on 2023 (from 51.94% to 52.61%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2023), the average change was −0.78 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.29 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 18.53 percentage points in 1990 and the biggest yearly fall was 16.96 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 2017 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 3% of the movement over 8 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 2024, Cameroon had the 5th highest value of the 21 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 Cameroon in the 2024 ranking

• Djibouti — 1st of 21: 77.99%
• Madagascar — 2nd of 21: 66.14%
• Guinea-Bissau — 3rd of 21: 54.88%
• Paraguay — 5th of 21: 52.06%
• Macao SAR, China — 6th of 21: 50.99%
• Nicaragua — 7th of 21: 50.34%

What this measures

Manufacturing of food, beverages, and tobacco includes industries classified in ISIC (Rev. 3) divisions 15 and 16. Value added is the contribution to the economy by a producer or an industry or an institutional sector, which is estimated by the total value of output produced and deducting the total value of intermediate consumption of goods and services used to produce that output. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of value added in manufacturing which is the contribution to the economy by the manufacturing sector (ISIC Rev. 3 major division D).

Limitations: In establishing classifications systems compilers must define both the types of activities to be described and the units whose activities are to be reported. There are many possibilities, and the choices affect how the statistics can be interpreted and how useful they are in analyzing economic behavior. The ISIC emphasizes commonalities in the production process and is explicitly not intended to measure outputs (for which there is a newly developed Central Product Classification). Nevertheless, the ISIC views an activity as defined by "a process resulting in a homogeneous set of products."

All 42 values

Food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) in nearby economies

• Botswana — 30.27% (2023)
• Burundi — 87.63% (2015)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 63.51% (2022)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 44.36% (2024)
• Ethiopia — 36.62% (2015)
• Ghana — 34.58% (2015)
• Guinea-Bissau — 54.88% (2024)
• Kenya — 53.33% (2023)
• Lesotho

More economic policy & debt data for Cameroon

• General government final consumption expenditure (constant 2015 US$) — US$5.05 billion (2025)
• General government final consumption expenditure (constant LCU) — 3.02 trillion (2025)
• Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (constant 2015 US$) — US$34.19 billion (2025)
• Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (constant LCU) — 20.13 trillion (2025)
• Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$1,144 (2025)
• Final consumption expenditure (constant 2015 US$) — US$39.23 billion (2025)
• Final consumption expenditure (constant LCU) — 23.14 trillion (2025)
• Gross national expenditure (constant 2015 US$)

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 Cameroon's food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing)?

52.61% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1970?

It is up 2.18 percentage points from 50.44% in 1970. The highest value was 63.68% in 2018 and the lowest 30.79% in 1994.

How does Cameroon rank?

5th highest of 21 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) unusual for Cameroon?

In 2024, Cameroon's food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) rose 0.67 percentage points on 2023 (from 51.94% to 52.61%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2023), the average change was −0.78 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.29 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 NV.MNF.FBTO.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 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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