Liberia: Fuel imports (% of merchandise imports)

Key figures

Over five years it is down 0.47 percentage points from 32.24% in 2018. Since 1963 it is up 24.8 percentage points from 6.97% in 1963. The World Bank has no value for 37 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2023, Liberia's fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) rose 0.56 percentage points on 2022 (from 31.22% to 31.77%).

Across the 19 yearly changes before that (1971 to 2022), the average change was +0.99 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 6.32 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 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 12.24 percentage points in 2022 and the biggest yearly fall was 11.28 percentage points in 2019. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2023, Liberia had the 2nd highest value of the 24 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 Liberia in the 2023 ranking

• Mali — 1st of 24: 36.26%
• São Tomé and Principe — 3rd of 24: 29.28%
• Cameroon — 4th of 24: 24.18%
• Mongolia — 5th of 24: 22.91%

What this measures

Fuels comprise the commodities in SITC (Rev. 3) section 3 (mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials). This indicator is expressed as a percentage of merchandise imports which is comprised of goods whose economic ownership is changed between a non-resident and a resident and that are not included in the following specific categories: goods under merchanting, non-monetary gold, and parts of travel, construction, and government goods and services n.i.e.

Limitations: Previous editions contained data based on the SITC revision 1. Data for earlier years in previous editions may differ because of the change in methodology. Concordance tables are available to convert data reported in one system to another.

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

All 24 values

Fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 16.4% (2025)
• Benin — 13.65% (2024)
• Botswana — 20.49% (2023)
• Burkina Faso — 41.15% (2024)
• Burundi — 22.15% (2023)
• Cabo Verde — 14.36% (2024)
• Cameroon — 24.18% (2023)
• Central African Republic — 26.48% (2024)
• Comoros — 10.23% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 19.04% (2024)

More private sector & trade data for Liberia

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 86.96% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$2.49 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$2.07 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 75.97% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports) — 0% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$153.7 million (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 20.52% (2023)
• Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0% (2023)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Liberia's fuel imports (% of merchandise imports)?

31.77% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1963?

It is up 24.8 percentage points from 6.97% in 1963. The highest value was 32.24% in 2018 and the lowest 6.37% in 1970.

How does Liberia rank?

2nd highest of 24 economies with data for 2023.

Is the latest change in fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) unusual for Liberia?

In 2023, Liberia's fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) rose 0.56 percentage points on 2022 (from 31.22% to 31.77%). Across the 19 yearly changes before that (1971 to 2022), the average change was +0.99 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 6.32 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 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.FUEL.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Comtrade database, United Nations (UN), publisher: UN Statistics Division; World Integrated Trade Solution system (WITS); 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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