São Tomé and Principe: Gross national expenditure (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, São Tomé and Principe's gross national expenditure (% of GDP) rose 6.89 percentage points on 2024 (from 113.15% to 120.04%).

Across the 16 yearly changes before that (2009 to 2024), the average change was −2.56 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.64 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.7 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 9.34 percentage points in 2010 and the biggest yearly fall was 11.47 percentage points in 2015. 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 2.7 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 87% 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 104.44% 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 3.73%, against 8.42% 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 16th highest value of the 130 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

• Honduras — 13th of 130: 121.52%
• Samoa — 14th of 130: 121.39%
• Guinea — 15th of 130: 120.85%
• Namibia — 17th of 130: 119.23%
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 18th of 130: 118.4%
• Guatemala — 19th of 130: 115.41%

What this measures

Gross national expenditure is the sum of household final consumption expenditure, general government final consumption expenditure, and gross 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.

All 18 values

Gross national expenditure (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Angola — 88.09% (2024)
• Benin — 103.01% (2025)
• Botswana — 106.41% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 95.02% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 111.38% (2025)
• Cameroon — 106.3% (2025)
• Central African Republic — 114.22% (2025)
• Chad — 87.3% (2025)
• Comoros — 122.29% (2025)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 100.33% (2025)
• Congo, Rep.

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 gross national expenditure (% of GDP)?

120.04% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2008?

It is down 34.11 percentage points from 154.16% in 2008. The highest value was 164.01% in 2011 and the lowest 113.15% in 2024.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NE.DAB.TOTL.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Country official statistics, National Statistical Organizations and/or Central Banks; National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); 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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