El Salvador: Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, El Salvador's merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) fell 0.38 percentage points on 2022 (from 45.14% to 44.76%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1993 to 2022), the average change was −0.69 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.83 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 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 15.93 percentage points in 1981 and the biggest yearly fall was 19.79 percentage points in 1980. 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 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.86 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 83% 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 41.12% for 2026. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2021 to 2023 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.79%, against 1.31% 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 2023, El Salvador had the 150th highest value of the 205 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 El Salvador in the 2023 ranking

• Madagascar — 147th of 205: 46.22%
• Sri Lanka — 148th of 205: 44.93%
• Burundi — 149th of 205: 44.81%
• Eritrea — 151st of 205: 44.74%
• Côte d'Ivoire — 152nd of 205: 44.53%
• Chile — 153rd of 205: 44.4%

What this measures

Merchandise imports from high-income economies are the sum of merchandise imports by the reporting economy from high-income economies according to the World Bank classification of economies. Data are expressed as a percentage of total merchandise imports by the economy. Data are computed only if at least half of the economies in the partner country group had non-missing data.

Limitations: Data on exports and imports are from the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Direction of Trade database and should be broadly consistent with data from other sources, such as the United Nations Statistics Division's Commodity Trade (Comtrade) database. All high-income economies and major low- and middle-income economies report trade data to the IMF on a timely basis, covering about 85 percent of trade for recent years. Trade data for less timely reporters and for countries that do not report are estimated using reports of trading partner countries. Therefore, data on trade between developing and high-income economies should be generally complete.

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

All 64 values

Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) in nearby economies

• Antigua and Barbuda — 79.42% (2023)
• Argentina — 35.96% (2023)
• Aruba — 81.64% (2023)
• Bahamas, The — 93.55% (2023)
• Barbados — 87.11% (2023)
• Belize — 54.97% (2023)
• Bolivia — 34.06% (2023)
• Brazil — 56.39% (2023)

More private sector & trade data for El Salvador

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$17.85 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$6.43 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Latin America & the Caribbean (% of total merchandise imports) — 34.98% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.01% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$15.63 billion (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise imports) — 34.98% (2023)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 45.3% (2023)

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 El Salvador's merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports)?

44.76% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1960?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TM.VAL.MRCH.HI.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Staff estimates, World Bank (WB); Direction of Trade database, 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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