North Macedonia: Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, North Macedonia's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) fell 0.1 percentage points on 2024 (from 1.26% to 1.16%).

Across the 28 yearly changes before that (1997 to 2024), the average change was −0.69 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.61 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 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 1.85 percentage points in 2001 and the biggest yearly fall was 12.72 percentage points in 1998. 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 0.26 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 85% 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.

A straight-line projection, tested first

Extending that straight line gives about 0.58% for 2028. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2023 to 2025 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.94%, against 1.33% for assuming no change. Treat it as a continuation of the recent pattern, not a forecast of events: it cannot see a recession, a policy change or a revision to the data.

See how a linear trend forecast works and the guide on forecasting without fooling yourself.

How it compares

In 2025, North Macedonia had the 134th 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 North Macedonia in the 2025 ranking

• Lao PDR — 130th of 134: 1.52%
• Israel — 131st of 134: 1.33%
• Madagascar — 132nd of 134: 1.26%
• Botswana — 134th of 134: 0.57%

What this measures

Financial services covers services related to financial intermediation, financial risk management, liquidity transformation or auxiliary financial activities. It also includes insurance and pension scheme services which are services related to providing life insurance and annuities, non-life insurance, reinsurance, pensions, standardised guarantees and auxiliary services to insurance, pension schemes, and standardised guarantee schemes. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service imports which are commercial services provided by non-residents to 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 30 values

Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) in nearby economies

• Albania — 3.27% (2025)
• Armenia — 8.92% (2025)
• Austria — 4.28% (2025)
• Azerbaijan — 2.72% (2025)
• Belarus — 3.82% (2021)
• Belgium — 9.03% (2025)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 4.55% (2025)
• Bulgaria — 6.32% (2025)
• Croatia

More private sector & trade data for North Macedonia

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 115.78% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$13.06 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$9.06 billion (2025)
• Agricultural raw materials imports (% of merchandise imports) — 0.63% (2025)
• Food imports (% of merchandise imports) — 12.04% (2025)
• Fuel imports (% of merchandise imports) — 10.82% (2025)
• Manufactures imports (% of merchandise imports) — 63.43% (2025)
• Ores and metals imports (% of merchandise imports) — 12.77% (2025)
• Agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is North Macedonia's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports)?

1.16% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is down 19.52 percentage points from 20.68% in 1996. The highest value was 20.68% in 1996 and the lowest 1.16% in 2025.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TM.VAL.INSF.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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