Maldives: Travel services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Maldives' travel services (% of commercial service exports) rose 0.94 percentage points on 2024 (from 95.34% to 96.28%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.09 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.73 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations above 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 21.93 percentage points in 1978 and the biggest yearly fall was 57.56 percentage points in 1979. 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 0.78 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 69% 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, Maldives had the 2nd 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.

Closest to Maldives in the 2025 ranking

• St. Lucia — 2nd of 134: 93.46%
• Gambia, The — 3rd of 134: 92.85%
• Macao SAR, China — 4th of 134: 90.37%

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 49 values

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

• Bangladesh — 7.12% (2025)
• Bhutan — 77.45% (2024)
• India — 7.7% (2025)
• Nepal — 40.68% (2025)
• Sri Lanka — 45.64% (2025)

More private sector & trade data for Maldives

• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$3.62 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$444 million (2025)
• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 52.49% (2025)
• Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) — 6.49% (2025)
• Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service imports) — 36.01% (2025)
• Commercial service imports (current US$) — US$1.88 billion (2025)
• Transport services (% of commercial service imports) — 29.59% (2025)
• Computer, communications and other services (% of commercial service exports) — 1.08% (2025)
• Commercial service exports (current US$)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Maldives's travel services (% of commercial service exports)?

96.28% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1977?

It is up 34.28 percentage points from 62% in 1977. The highest value was 96.32% in 2007 and the lowest 17.94% in 1980.

How does Maldives rank?

2nd highest of 134 economies with data for 2025.

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

In 2025, Maldives' travel services (% of commercial service exports) rose 0.94 percentage points on 2024 (from 95.34% to 96.28%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.09 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.73 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.5 standard deviations above 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 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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