Malawi: Services, value added (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Malawi's services, value added (% of GDP) rose 4.44 percentage points on 2024 (from 44.22% to 48.66%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.25 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.67 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.8 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 19.32 percentage points in 1994 and the biggest yearly fall was 8.72 percentage points in 1987. 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 downward, about 0.98 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 77% 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, Malawi had the 118th highest value of the 158 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 Malawi in the 2025 ranking

• Turkmenistan — 114th of 158: 48.88%
• Madagascar — 115th of 158: 48.83%
• Comoros — 116th of 158: 48.81%
• Zimbabwe — 118th of 158: 48.17%
• Paraguay — 119th of 158: 48.07%
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 120th of 158: 47.96%

What this measures

Services industries correspond to ISIC (Rev. 4) divisions 45-99 and includes wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financial intermediation, real estate, renting and business activities, public administration and defence, compulsory social security, education, health and social work, other community, social and personal service activities, private households with employed persons, and extra-territorial organizations and bodies. Value added is the contribution to the economy by a producer or an industry or an institutional sector, which is estimated by the total value of output produced and deducting the total value of intermediate consumption of goods and services used to produce that output. 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.

Limitations: In the services industry the many self-employed workers and one-person businesses are sometimes difficult to locate, and they have little incentive to respond to surveys, let alone to report their full earnings. Compounding these problems are the many forms of economic activity that go unrecorded, including the work that women and children do for little or no pay.

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

All 46 values

Services, value added (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Angola — 46.83% (2025)
• Benin — 50.06% (2025)
• Botswana — 64.63% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 41.52% (2025)
• Burundi — 42.06% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 67.92% (2025)
• Cameroon — 50.36% (2025)
• Central African Republic — 41.38% (2025)
• Chad — 33.89% (2025)
• Comoros — 48.81% (2025)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 47.96% (2025)

More economic policy & debt data for Malawi

• Services, value added (constant 2015 US$) — US$6.68 billion (2025)
• Services, value added (constant LCU) — 4.34 trillion (2025)
• Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (constant 2015 US$) — US$11.42 billion (2025)
• Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (constant LCU) — 7.6 trillion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$12.18 billion (2025)
• GDP (constant LCU) — 8.09 trillion (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$548.16 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant LCU) — 364,283 (2025)
• Services, value added (annual % growth) — 2.15% (2025)
• GDP (annual % growth) — 1.89% (2025)

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 Malawi's services, value added (% of GDP)?

48.66% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1980?

It is up 11.37 percentage points from 37.29% in 1980. The highest value was 53.91% in 2016 and the lowest 27.17% in 1989.

How does Malawi rank?

118th highest of 158 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in services, value added (% of GDP) unusual for Malawi?

In 2025, Malawi's services, value added (% of GDP) rose 4.44 percentage points on 2024 (from 44.22% to 48.66%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.25 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.67 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 2.8 standard deviations above that average, so it was unusually large compared with the rest of the record.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NV.SRV.TOTL.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Country official statistics, National Statistical Offices (NSOs); National Accounts data files, Central Banks; 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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