Kiribati's transport services (% of commercial service imports) was 69.01% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 8.31 percentage points from 60.71% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 69.01% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 78.38% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 60.71% | 2015 |
| Highest | 90.61% | 1980 |
| Lowest | 50.45% | 2013 |
| Average since 2016 | 64.34% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 89.44% | 1979 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Kiribati's transport services (% of commercial service imports) fell 4.89 percentage points on 2024 (from 73.91% to 69.01%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1983 to 2024), the average change was −0.32 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.81 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.6 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 24.7 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 17.09 percentage points in 2022. 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 2.62 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 2025, Kiribati had the 3rd 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.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Kiribati | 69.01% | 2025 |
| World | 20.44% | 2025 |
| East Asia & Pacific | 19.93% | 2025 |
| Lower middle income | 30.28% | 2025 |
Closest to Kiribati in the 2025 ranking
- Sudan — 1st of 134: 80.87%
- Gambia, The — 3rd of 134: 68.95%
- Tajikistan — 4th of 134: 65.81%
- Burundi — 5th of 134: 60.32%
What this measures
Transport is the process of carriage of people and objects from one location to another as well as related supporting and auxiliary services. Also included are postal and courier services. 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 36 values
| Year | Transport services (% of commercial service imports) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 69.01 |
| 2024 | 73.91 |
| 2023 | 70.79 |
| 2022 | 62.56 |
| 2021 | 79.65 |
| 2020 | 78.38 |
| 2019 | 53.69 |
| 2018 | 51.38 |
| 2017 | 52.88 |
| 2016 | 51.19 |
| 2015 |
Transport services (% of commercial service imports) in nearby economies
- Australia — 16.35% (2025)
- Brunei Darussalam — 16.22% (2025)
- Cambodia — 54.32% (2025)
- China — 17.88% (2025)
- Fiji — 46.57% (2024)
- French Polynesia — 31.16% (2016)
- Hong Kong SAR, China — 20.99% (2025)
- Indonesia — 23.9% (2025)
- Japan — 13.58% (2025)
More private sector & trade data for Kiribati
- Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$496 million (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$20 million (2025)
- Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 147.76% (2025)
- Agricultural raw materials imports (% of merchandise imports) — 2.3% (2021)
- Food imports (% of merchandise imports) — 41.44% (2021)
- Fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) — 12.54% (2021)
- Manufactures imports (% of merchandise imports) — 43.01% (2021)
- Ores and metals imports (% of merchandise imports) — 0.4% (2021)
- Food exports (% of merchandise exports) — 97.22% (2021)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Kiribati's transport services (% of commercial service imports)?
- 69.01% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1979?
- It is down 20.43 percentage points from 89.44% in 1979. The highest value was 90.61% in 1980 and the lowest 50.45% in 2013.
- How does Kiribati rank?
- 3rd highest of 134 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in transport services (% of commercial service imports) unusual for Kiribati?
- In 2025, Kiribati's transport services (% of commercial service imports) fell 4.89 percentage points on 2024 (from 73.91% to 69.01%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1983 to 2024), the average change was −0.32 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.81 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.6 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 TM.VAL.TRAN.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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