Kenya: Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Kenya's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) rose 0.76 percentage points on 2024 (from 14.2% to 14.96%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.05 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 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 5.5 percentage points in 1980 and the biggest yearly fall was 5.38 percentage points in 2005. 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 upward, about 0.61 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 68% 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 2025, Kenya had the 16th highest value of the 134 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 Kenya in the 2025 ranking

• Cyprus — 12th of 134: 17.08%
• Mexico — 13th of 134: 15.81%
• Belize — 14th of 134: 15.15%
• Ghana — 16th of 134: 14.49%
• El Salvador — 17th of 134: 14.32%
• Ecuador — 18th of 134: 13.88%

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 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 51 values

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

• Angola — 7.08% (2025)
• Benin — 2.67% (2023)
• Botswana — 0.57% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 16.83% (2024)
• Burundi — 10.59% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 3.73% (2025)
• Cameroon — 9.36% (2024)
• Comoros — 6.55% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep.

More private sector & trade data for Kenya

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 22.23% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$21.61 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$8.6 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 25.82% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 49.35% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0.0000627% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$18.59 billion (2023)
• Merchandise exports to economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise exports) — 16.16% (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 Kenya's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports)?

14.96% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1975?

It is up 8.23 percentage points from 6.73% in 1975. The highest value was 15.41% in 2023 and the lowest 4.98% in 2007.

How does Kenya rank?

16th highest of 134 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) unusual for Kenya?

In 2025, Kenya's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) rose 0.76 percentage points on 2024 (from 14.2% to 14.96%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.05 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TM.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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