El Salvador: Services, value added (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, El Salvador's services, value added (% of GDP) fell 1.35 percentage points on 2024 (from 60.22% to 58.87%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.22 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.88 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.8 standard deviations below 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 3.85 percentage points in 1978 and the biggest yearly fall was 3.43 percentage points in 1970. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 13% of the movement over 10 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 2025, El Salvador had the 68th highest value of the 158 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 2025 ranking

• Türkiye — 65th of 158: 59.42%
• Mexico — 66th of 158: 58.9%
• Russian Federation — 67th of 158: 58.88%
• Slovenia — 69th of 158: 58.64%
• Colombia — 70th of 158: 58.51%
• Nigeria — 71st of 158: 58.23%

What this measures

Services industries correspond to ISIC (Rev. 4) divisions 45-99 and includes wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financial intermediation, real estate, renting and business activities, public administration and defence, compulsory social security, education, health and social work, other community, social and personal service activities, private households with employed persons, and extra-territorial organizations and bodies. 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 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.

Limitations: In the services industry the many self-employed workers and one-person businesses are sometimes difficult to locate, and they have little incentive to respond to surveys, let alone to report their full earnings. Compounding these problems are the many forms of economic activity that go unrecorded, including the work that women and children do for little or no pay.

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

All 61 values

Services, value added (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Antigua and Barbuda — 68.66% (2025)
• Argentina — 56.15% (2025)
• Aruba — 76.28% (2023)
• Bahamas, The — 77.19% (2024)
• Barbados — 75.84% (2024)
• Belize — 62.44% (2024)
• Bolivia — 53.36% (2024)
• Brazil — 59.74% (2025)
• Cayman Islands — 86.54% (2024)
• Chile — 55.51% (2025)
• Colombia — 58.51% (2025)

More economic policy & debt data for El Salvador

• Total reserves, including gold (current US$) — US$4.82 billion (2025)
• Total reserves, excluding gold (current US$) — US$4.56 billion (2025)
• Grants, excluding technical cooperation (BoP, current US$) — US$252.5 million (2023)
• Technical cooperation grants (BoP, current US$) — US$35.19 million (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Japan (current US$) — US$41.44 million (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Total (current US$) — US$362.85 million (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, United States (current US$) — US$154.63 million (2023)
• Net official development assistance and official aid received (current US$) — US$498.81 million (2023)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is El Salvador's services, value added (% of GDP)?

58.87% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1965?

It is up 23.39 percentage points from 35.48% in 1965. The highest value was 61.46% in 2020 and the lowest 34.09% in 1977.

How does El Salvador rank?

68th highest of 158 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in services, value added (% of GDP) unusual for El Salvador?

In 2025, El Salvador's services, value added (% of GDP) fell 1.35 percentage points on 2024 (from 60.22% to 58.87%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.22 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.88 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.8 standard deviations below 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 NV.SRV.TOTL.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Country official statistics, National Statistical Offices (NSOs); National Accounts data files, Central Banks; 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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