Guinea-Bissau: Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Guinea-Bissau's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports) rose 7.62 percentage points on 2023 (from 14.01% to 21.63%).

Across the 20 yearly changes before that (2002 to 2023), the average change was +1.35 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.41 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations above 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 13.32 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 10.25 percentage points in 2011. 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 the straight-line trend is upward, about 1.43 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 58% 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 2024, Guinea-Bissau had the 3rd highest value of the 23 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 Guinea-Bissau in the 2024 ranking

• Liberia — 1st of 23: 71.69%
• Sierra Leone — 2nd of 23: 32.73%
• Haiti — 4th of 23: 21.13%
• Guinea — 5th of 23: 18.33%
• Burkina Faso — 6th of 23: 18.16%

What this measures

Financial services covers services related to financial intermediation, financial risk management, liquidity transformation or auxiliary financial activities. It also includes insurance and pension scheme services which are services related to providing life insurance and annuities, non-life insurance, reinsurance, pensions, standardised guarantees and auxiliary services to insurance, pension schemes, and standardised guarantee schemes. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service exports which are commercial services provided by residents to non-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 23 values

Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 0.00779% (2025)
• Benin — 11.43% (2023)
• Botswana — 0.32% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 18.16% (2024)
• Burundi — 15.63% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 0.35% (2025)
• Cameroon — 3.95% (2024)
• Comoros — 1.44% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep.

More private sector & trade data for Guinea-Bissau

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$489 million (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$313 million (2025)
• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 31.73% (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 37.3% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (% of total merchandise imports) — 44.49% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.00341% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$322.03 million (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise imports)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Guinea-Bissau's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports)?

21.63% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2001?

It is up 19.53 percentage points from 2.11% in 2001. The highest value was 22.35% in 2020 and the lowest 0.42% in 2011.

How does Guinea-Bissau rank?

3rd highest of 23 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports) unusual for Guinea-Bissau?

In 2024, Guinea-Bissau's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service exports) rose 7.62 percentage points on 2023 (from 14.01% to 21.63%). Across the 20 yearly changes before that (2002 to 2023), the average change was +1.35 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.41 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.2 standard deviations above 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 TX.VAL.INSF.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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