Congo, Dem. Rep.: Food imports (% of merchandise imports)

Key figures

Over five years it is up 2.85 percentage points from 7.66% in 2019. Since 1962 it is down 15.16 percentage points from 25.66% in 1962. The World Bank has no value for 41 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2024, Congo, Dem. Rep.'s food imports (% of merchandise imports) rose 5.74 percentage points on 2023 (from 4.77% to 10.5%).

Across the 15 yearly changes before that (1973 to 2023), the average change was −0.3 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.14 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.9 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 5.74 percentage points in 2024 and the biggest yearly fall was 4.85 percentage points in 2018. 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 downward, about 0.76 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 49% 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, Congo, Dem. Rep. had the 34th highest value of the 36 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 Congo, Dem. Rep. in the 2024 ranking

• Burkina Faso — 30th of 36: 11.18%
• Qatar — 31st of 36: 11.18%
• Uganda — 32nd of 36: 10.74%
• Ukraine — 34th of 36: 10.49%
• Zambia — 35th of 36: 7.83%
• Cambodia — 36th of 36: 7.41%

What this measures

Food comprises the commodities in SITC (Rev. 3) sections 0 (food and live animals), 1 (beverages and tobacco), and 4 (animal and vegetable oils and fats) and division 22 (oil seeds, oil nuts, and oil kernels). This indicator is expressed as a percentage of merchandise imports which is comprised of goods whose economic ownership is changed between a non-resident and a 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.

Limitations: Previous editions contained data based on the SITC revision 1. Data for earlier years in previous editions may differ because of the change in methodology. Concordance tables are available to convert data reported in one system to another.

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

All 22 values

Food imports (% of merchandise imports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 15.62% (2025)
• Benin — 33.27% (2024)
• Botswana — 16.21% (2023)
• Burkina Faso — 11.18% (2024)
• Burundi — 13.65% (2023)
• Cabo Verde — 32.56% (2024)
• Cameroon — 21.75% (2023)
• Central African Republic — 20.92% (2024)
• Comoros — 42.07% (2023)
• Congo, Rep. — 21.24% (2023)

More private sector & trade data for Congo, Dem. Rep.

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 66.13% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$28.1 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$32.1 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 43.85% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 36.59% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (% of total merchandise imports) — 19.56% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0% (2023)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Congo, Dem. Rep.'s food imports (% of merchandise imports)?

10.5% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1962?

It is down 15.16 percentage points from 25.66% in 1962. The highest value was 25.66% in 1962 and the lowest 4.77% in 2023.

How does Congo, Dem. Rep. rank?

34th highest of 36 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in food imports (% of merchandise imports) unusual for Congo, Dem. Rep.?

In 2024, Congo, Dem. Rep.'s food imports (% of merchandise imports) rose 5.74 percentage points on 2023 (from 4.77% to 10.5%). Across the 15 yearly changes before that (1973 to 2023), the average change was −0.3 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.14 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.9 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 TM.VAL.FOOD.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Comtrade database, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Statistics Division; World Integrated Trade Solution system (WITS); Staff estimates, 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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