Ethiopia: Food imports (% of merchandise imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Ethiopia's food imports (% of merchandise imports) fell 9.96 percentage points on 2022 (from 23.8% to 13.84%).

Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1998 to 2022), the average change was +0.85 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.24 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.1 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 12.92 percentage points in 2003 and the biggest yearly fall was 11.85 percentage points in 2004. 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 upward, about 1.41 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 48% 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 2023, Ethiopia had the 18th highest value of the 24 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 Ethiopia in the 2023 ranking

• Papua New Guinea — 15th of 24: 16.49%
• Botswana — 16th of 24: 16.21%
• Gabon — 17th of 24: 15.72%
• Burundi — 19th of 24: 13.65%
• Mali — 20th of 24: 13.51%
• Lao PDR — 21st of 24: 12.69%

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 28 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, Dem. Rep. — 10.5% (2024)

More private sector & trade data for Ethiopia

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 24.21% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$23.01 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$7.59 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 26.38% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 38.55% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 59.71% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 37.16% (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 Ethiopia's food imports (% of merchandise imports)?

13.84% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1995?

It is up 0.00266 percentage points from 13.84% in 1995. The highest value was 28.17% in 2021 and the lowest 2.43% in 1997.

How does Ethiopia rank?

18th highest of 24 economies with data for 2023.

Is the latest change in food imports (% of merchandise imports) unusual for Ethiopia?

In 2023, Ethiopia's food imports (% of merchandise imports) fell 9.96 percentage points on 2022 (from 23.8% to 13.84%). Across the 25 yearly changes before that (1998 to 2022), the average change was +0.85 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.24 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.1 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

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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