Liberia: Travel services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

Over five years it is up 5.47 percentage points from 17.86% in 2019. Since 1979 it is down 6.08 percentage points from 29.41% in 1979. The World Bank has no value for 25 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

In 2024, Liberia's travel services (% of commercial service exports) fell 30.46 percentage points on 2023 (from 53.79% to 23.33%).

Across the 17 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2023), the average change was +1.32 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 11.37 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.8 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 33.42 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 30.46 percentage points in 2024. 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 2024, Liberia had the 21st highest value of the 29 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 2024 ranking

• Niger — 17th of 29: 34.57%
• Kyrgyz Republic — 18th of 29: 29.05%
• Burkina Faso — 19th of 29: 23.75%
• Solomon Islands — 21st of 29: 22.82%
• Ethiopia — 22nd of 29: 14.31%
• Cameroon — 23rd of 29: 12.99%

What this measures

Travel services cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by nonresidents during visits to that economy, or acquired from other economies by residents during visits to these other economies. 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 21 values

Travel services (% of commercial service exports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 13.87% (2025)
• Benin — 55.64% (2023)
• Botswana — 55.17% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 23.75% (2024)
• Burundi — 4.17% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 80.28% (2025)
• Cameroon — 12.99% (2024)
• Comoros — 77% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 53.31% (2025)
• Congo, Rep.

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 travel services (% of commercial service exports)?

23.33% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1979?

It is down 6.08 percentage points from 29.41% in 1979. The highest value was 86.94% in 2008 and the lowest 12.85% in 1986.

How does Liberia rank?

21st highest of 29 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in travel services (% of commercial service exports) unusual for Liberia?

In 2024, Liberia's travel services (% of commercial service exports) fell 30.46 percentage points on 2023 (from 53.79% to 23.33%). Across the 17 yearly changes before that (1980 to 2023), the average change was +1.32 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 11.37 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.8 standard deviations below that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TX.VAL.TRVL.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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