Kenya's trade (% of GDP) was 37.52% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 2.81 percentage points from 40.33% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 37.52% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 30.4% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 40.33% | 2015 |
| Highest | 74.57% | 1974 |
| Lowest | 30.4% | 2020 |
| Average since 2016 | 36.12% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 64.77% | 1960 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Kenya's trade (% of GDP) fell 2.49 percentage points on 2024 (from 40.01% to 37.52%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −1.04 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.3 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below 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 19.93 percentage points in 1993 and the biggest yearly fall was 14.43 percentage points in 1996. 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 0.7 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 35% 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 122nd highest value of the 137 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.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | 37.52% | 2025 |
| World | 68.49% | 2025 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 55.68% | 2024 |
| Lower middle income | 46.57% | 2025 |
Closest to Kenya in the 2025 ranking
What this measures
Trade is the sum of exports and imports of goods and services. 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 66 values
| Year | Trade (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 37.52 |
| 2024 | 40.01 |
| 2023 | 40.93 |
| 2022 | 40.28 |
| 2021 | 35 |
| 2020 | 30.4 |
| 2019 | 31.76 |
| 2018 | 34.41 |
| 2017 | 36 |
| 2016 | 34.87 |
| 2015 | 40.33 |
Trade (% of GDP) in nearby economies
- Angola — 34.65% (2025)
- Benin — 37.12% (2025)
- Botswana — 69.54% (2025)
- Burkina Faso — 65% (2025)
- Cabo Verde — 95.33% (2025)
- Cameroon — 33.38% (2025)
- Central African Republic — 52.91% (2025)
- Chad — 46.13% (2025)
- Comoros — 40.89% (2025)
- Congo, Dem. Rep. — 87.33% (2025)
- Congo, Rep. — 91.67% (2025)
- Côte d'Ivoire — 54.56% (2025)
More economic policy & debt data for Kenya
- General government final consumption expenditure (current US$) — US$15.24 billion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (current LCU) — 1.97 trillion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (constant 2015 US$) — US$14.8 billion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (constant LCU) — 1.51 trillion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP) — 11.21% (2025)
- Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (current US$) — US$104.6 billion (2025)
- Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (current LCU) — 13.52 trillion (2025)
- Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (constant 2015 US$)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Kenya's trade (% of GDP)?
- 37.52% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1960?
- It is down 27.24 percentage points from 64.77% in 1960. The highest value was 74.57% in 1974 and the lowest 30.4% in 2020.
- How does Kenya rank?
- 122nd highest of 137 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in trade (% of GDP) unusual for Kenya?
- In 2025, Kenya's trade (% of GDP) fell 2.49 percentage points on 2024 (from 40.01% to 37.52%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −1.04 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.3 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 standard deviations below 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 NE.TRD.GNFS.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Country official statistics, National Statistical Organizations and/or Central Banks; National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); 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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