Ethiopia: Travel services (% of commercial service imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Ethiopia's travel services (% of commercial service imports) fell 3.93 percentage points on 2023 (from 8.48% to 4.55%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +0.16 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.34 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 4.3 percentage points in 2000 and the biggest yearly fall was 6.86 percentage points in 2001. 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 11% 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 2024, Ethiopia had the 22nd highest value of the 28 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 2024 ranking

• Côte d'Ivoire — 19th of 28: 6.86%
• Namibia — 20th of 28: 4.68%
• Sierra Leone — 21st of 28: 4.62%
• Mauritania — 23rd of 28: 3.93%
• Malta — 24th of 28: 3.88%
• Papua New Guinea — 25th of 28: 3.2%

What this measures

Travel services cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by nonresidents during visits to that economy, or acquired from other economies by residents during visits to these other economies. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service imports which are commercial services provided by non-residents to residents.

Limitations: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data.

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

All 48 values

Travel services (% of commercial service imports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 16.91% (2025)
• Benin — 3.34% (2023)
• Botswana — 9.37% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 7.29% (2024)
• Burundi — 9.26% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 30.04% (2025)
• Cameroon — 7.76% (2024)
• Comoros — 39.87% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 6.4% (2025)
• Congo, Rep.

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 travel services (% of commercial service imports)?

4.55% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1977?

It is up 0.75 percentage points from 3.8% in 1977. The highest value was 15.41% in 2000 and the lowest 1.53% in 1985.

How does Ethiopia rank?

22nd highest of 28 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in travel services (% of commercial service imports) unusual for Ethiopia?

In 2024, Ethiopia's travel services (% of commercial service imports) fell 3.93 percentage points on 2023 (from 8.48% to 4.55%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was +0.16 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.34 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 TM.VAL.TRVL.ZS.WT, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, 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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