Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan's food exports (% of merchandise exports) was 4.12% in 2023, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 1.17 percentage points from 2.95% in 2013.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 4.12% | 2023 |
| Five years earlier | 4.62% | 2018 |
| Ten years earlier | 2.95% | 2013 |
| Highest | 8.3% | 1974 |
| Lowest | 2.04% | 2000 |
| Average since 2014 | 4.13% | 2014–2023 |
| First recorded | 8.3% | 1974 |
What the numbers say
In 2023, Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan's food exports (% of merchandise exports) rose 0.62 percentage points on 2022 (from 3.5% to 4.12%).
Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1975 to 2022), the average change was +0.13 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.68 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 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 2.07 percentage points in 1993 and the biggest yearly fall was 1.58 percentage points in 2021. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2014 to 2023 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 8% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
See how every economy compares in the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan | 4.12% | 2023 |
| World | 9.01% | 2025 |
What this measures
Food comprises the commodities in SITC (Rev. 3) sections 0 (food and live animals), 1 (beverages and tobacco), and 4 (animal and vegetable oils and fats) and division 22 (oil seeds, oil nuts, and oil kernels). This indicator is expressed as a percentage of merchandise exports which is comprised of goods whose economic ownership is changed between a resident and a non-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 32 values
| Year | Food exports (% of merchandise exports) |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 4.12 |
| 2022 | 3.5 |
| 2021 | 3.91 |
| 2020 | 5.49 |
| 2019 | 4.8 |
| 2018 | 4.62 |
| 2017 | 3.73 |
| 2016 | 3.83 |
| 2015 | 4.09 |
| 2014 | 3.17 |
| 2013 |
Food exports (% of merchandise exports) in nearby economies
- Afghanistan — 63.85% (2019)
- Algeria — 0.54% (2024)
- Bahrain — 8.65% (2024)
- Egypt, Arab Rep. — 21.58% (2025)
- Iran, Islamic Rep. — 5.65% (2023)
- Iraq — 0.53% (2024)
- Israel — 2.18% (2025)
- Jordan — 17.64% (2024)
- Kuwait — 0.59% (2025)
- Lebanon — 19.09% (2024)
- Libya
More private sector & trade data for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan
- Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 47.17% (2025)
- Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$1.7 trillion (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$1.79 trillion (2025)
- Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 13.82% (2023)
- Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 53.15% (2023)
- Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 43.62% (2023)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan's food exports (% of merchandise exports)?
- 4.12% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1974?
- It is down 4.19 percentage points from 8.3% in 1974. The highest value was 8.3% in 1974 and the lowest 2.04% in 2000.
- Is the latest change in food exports (% of merchandise exports) unusual for Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan?
- In 2023, Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan's food exports (% of merchandise exports) rose 0.62 percentage points on 2022 (from 3.5% to 4.12%). Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1975 to 2022), the average change was +0.13 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.68 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.7 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.FOOD.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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