São Tomé and Principe's merchandise trade (% of GDP) was 22.52% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 36.32 percentage points from 58.85% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 22.52% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 32.26% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 58.85% | 2015 |
| Highest | 75.19% | 1977 |
| Lowest | 15.52% | 1987 |
| Average since 2016 | 36.73% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 45.68% | 1970 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, São Tomé and Principe's merchandise trade (% of GDP) rose 0.46 percentage points on 2024 (from 22.06% to 22.52%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.23 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 7.77 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 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 42.52 percentage points in 1977 and the biggest yearly fall was 28.62 percentage points in 1980. 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 3.16 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 86% 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 10.56% 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 1.74%, against 15.41% 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 182nd highest value of the 188 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.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| São Tomé and Principe | 22.52% | 2025 |
| World | 43.89% | 2025 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 44.53% | 2025 |
| Lower middle income | 35.72% | 2025 |
Closest to São Tomé and Principe in the 2025 ranking
- Argentina — 178th of 188: 23.85%
- Pakistan — 179th of 188: 23.67%
- Comoros — 180th of 188: 23.09%
- Venezuela, RB — 182nd of 188: 22.48%
- Afghanistan — 183rd of 188: 22.24%
- Kenya — 184th of 188: 22.23%
What this measures
General merchandise trade includes 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. It is the total of merchandise exports plus merchandise imports. 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.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 56 values
| Year | Merchandise trade (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 22.52 |
| 2024 | 22.06 |
| 2023 | 30.12 |
| 2022 | 40.31 |
| 2021 | 35.66 |
| 2020 | 32.26 |
| 2019 | 38.99 |
| 2018 | 42.74 |
| 2017 | 50.31 |
| 2016 | 52.35 |
| 2015 |
Merchandise trade (% of GDP) in nearby economies
- Angola — 38.84% (2025)
- Benin — 36.39% (2025)
- Botswana — 57.78% (2025)
- Burkina Faso — 67.5% (2025)
- Burundi — 45.17% (2025)
- Cabo Verde — 69.98% (2025)
- Cameroon — 24.6% (2025)
- Central African Republic — 27% (2025)
- Chad — 28.87% (2025)
- Comoros — 23.09% (2025)
- Congo, Dem. Rep. — 66.13% (2025)
More private sector & trade data for São Tomé and Principe
- Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$183 million (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$38 million (2025)
- Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 50.15% (2023)
- Merchandise imports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise imports) — 0% (2023)
- Merchandise imports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$181.65 million (2023)
- Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 96.73% (2023)
- Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports) — 0% (2023)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is São Tomé and Principe's merchandise trade (% of GDP)?
- 22.52% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1970?
- It is down 23.16 percentage points from 45.68% in 1970. The highest value was 75.19% in 1977 and the lowest 15.52% in 1987.
- How does São Tomé and Principe rank?
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TG.VAL.TOTL.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Trade Organization (WTO); World Bank GDP estimates, World Bank (WB); World Development Indicators, 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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