Papua New Guinea: Transport services (% of commercial service exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Papua New Guinea's transport services (% of commercial service exports) rose 4.23 percentage points on 2023 (from 3.74% to 7.97%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −0.15 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.32 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.0 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 20.88 percentage points in 1977 and the biggest yearly fall was 17.04 percentage points in 1981. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is downward, about 1.65 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 54% 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 2024, Papua New Guinea had the 24th 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 Papua New Guinea in the 2024 ranking

• Mauritius — 21st of 29: 9.69%
• Mali — 22nd of 29: 9.64%
• Nicaragua — 23rd of 29: 7.99%
• Naoero — 25th of 29: 7.16%
• Liberia — 26th of 29: 4.76%
• Guinea — 27th of 29: 2.09%

What this measures

Transport is the process of carriage of people and objects from one location to another as well as related supporting and auxiliary services. Also included are postal and courier services. 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

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

• Australia — 6.14% (2025)
• Brunei Darussalam — 53.24% (2025)
• Cambodia — 13.83% (2025)
• China — 18.42% (2025)
• Fiji — 39.94% (2024)
• French Polynesia — 36.16% (2016)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 30.58% (2025)
• Indonesia — 14.32% (2025)
• Japan — 12.95% (2025)
• Kiribati

More private sector & trade data for Papua New Guinea

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 62.04% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$4.62 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$15.54 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 69.25% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports) — 0.000374% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$10.86 billion (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 58.93% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports)

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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Questions people ask

What is Papua New Guinea's transport services (% of commercial service exports)?

7.97% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1976?

It is down 16.47 percentage points from 24.44% in 1976. The highest value was 57.33% in 1978 and the lowest 2.98% in 2002.

How does Papua New Guinea rank?

24th highest of 29 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in transport services (% of commercial service exports) unusual for Papua New Guinea?

In 2024, Papua New Guinea's transport services (% of commercial service exports) rose 4.23 percentage points on 2023 (from 3.74% to 7.97%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −0.15 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.32 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.0 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Source

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