Equatorial Guinea: Merchandise trade (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Equatorial Guinea's merchandise trade (% of GDP) fell 0.39 percentage points on 2024 (from 33.92% to 33.53%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −2.14 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 23.83 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 76.62 percentage points in 1995 and the biggest yearly fall was 34.58 percentage points in 2000. 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 the straight-line trend is downward, about 4 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 72% 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 21.41% for 2028. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2023 to 2025 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 2.38%, against 26.75% 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 2025, Equatorial Guinea had the 154th highest value of the 188 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 Equatorial Guinea in the 2025 ranking

• New Zealand — 151st of 188: 35.69%
• Dominican Republic — 152nd of 188: 35.58%
• Japan — 153rd of 188: 33.68%
• Nigeria — 155th of 188: 33.33%
• Algeria — 156th of 188: 33.27%
• Macao SAR, China — 157th of 188: 33.18%

What this measures

General merchandise trade includes goods whose economic ownership is changed between a resident and a non-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. It is the total of merchandise exports plus merchandise imports. 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.

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

All 62 values

Merchandise trade (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Angola — 38.84% (2025)
• Benin — 36.39% (2025)
• Botswana — 57.78% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 67.5% (2025)
• Burundi — 45.17% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 69.98% (2025)
• Cameroon — 24.6% (2025)
• Central African Republic — 27% (2025)
• Chad — 28.87% (2025)
• Comoros — 23.09% (2025)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 66.13% (2025)

More private sector & trade data for Equatorial Guinea

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$1.7 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$2.6 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 53.75% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (% of total merchandise imports) — 11.36% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$1.12 billion (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise imports)

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 Equatorial Guinea's merchandise trade (% of GDP)?

33.53% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1962?

It is down 98 percentage points from 131.53% in 1962. The highest value was 225.41% in 1996 and the lowest 13.51% in 1976.

How does Equatorial Guinea rank?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TG.VAL.TOTL.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Trade Organization (WTO); World Bank GDP estimates, World Bank (WB); World Development Indicators, 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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