São Tomé and Principe: General government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, São Tomé and Principe's general government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP) rose 0.52 percentage points on 2024 (from 9.78% to 10.3%).

Across the 16 yearly changes before that (2009 to 2024), the average change was −0.73 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.17 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 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 8.56 percentage points in 2009 and the biggest yearly fall was 6 percentage points in 2010. 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 0.75 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 78% 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 5.95% 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 0.64%, against 2.64% 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, São Tomé and Principe had the 110th highest value of the 131 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 São Tomé and Principe in the 2025 ranking

• Paraguay — 107th of 131: 10.86%
• India — 108th of 131: 10.77%
• Central African Republic — 109th of 131: 10.31%
• Singapore — 111th of 131: 10.25%
• Gambia, The — 112th of 131: 10.22%
• Armenia — 113th of 131: 10.19%

What this measures

Final consumption expenditure is expenditure on goods and services by resident institutional units for the direct satisfaction of human needs or wants, whether individual or collective. General government FCE includes all government current expenditures for purchases of goods and services (including compensation of employees), and most expenditures on national defense and security, but excludes government military expenditures that are part of government capital formation. 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: Because policymakers have tended to focus on fostering the growth of output, and because data on production are easier to collect than data on spending, many countries generate their primary estimate of GDP using the production approach. Moreover, many countries do not estimate all the components of national expenditures but instead derive some of the main aggregates indirectly using GDP (based on the production approach) as the control total.

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

All 18 values

General government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Angola — 15.78% (2024)
• Benin — 8.87% (2025)
• Botswana — 31.48% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 17.81% (2025)
• Burundi — 20.64% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 22.86% (2025)
• Cameroon — 11.15% (2025)
• Central African Republic — 10.31% (2025)
• Chad — 9.9% (2025)

More economic policy & debt data for São Tomé and Principe

• GDP (current US$) — US$981.29 million (2025)
• GDP (current LCU) — 21.28 billion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$326.78 million (2025)
• GDP (constant LCU) — 4.28 billion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$4,084 (2025)
• GDP per capita (current LCU) — 88,591 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$1,360 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant LCU) — 17,810 (2025)
• GNI (current US$) — US$1.06 billion (2025)
• GNI (current LCU) — 23.04 billion (2025)

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 São Tomé and Principe's general government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP)?

10.3% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2008?

It is down 11.16 percentage points from 21.45% in 2008. The highest value was 30.01% in 2009 and the lowest 9.78% in 2024.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NE.CON.GOVT.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.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.