Samoa's total reserves in months of imports was 12.37 in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 262.36% from 3.41 in 2015 (13.74% a year on average, compounded).
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 12.37 | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 8.18 | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 3.41 | 2015 |
| Highest | 12.37 | 2025 |
| Lowest | 0.45 | 1980 |
| Average since 2016 | 6.83 | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 2.57 | 1977 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Samoa's total reserves in months of imports rose 26% on 2024 (from 9.82 to 12.37).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1990 to 2024), the average change was +5.4% and a typical year strayed about 31.7% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.6 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 110.3% in 1983 and the biggest yearly fall was 60.1% in 1978. 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 upward, about 1 a year. A straight line explains 91% 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 13.38 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 2.29, against 3.28 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, Samoa had the 8th highest value of the 112 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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Samoa | 12.37 | 2025 |
| World | 8.62 | 2025 |
| East Asia & Pacific | 11.11 | 2025 |
| Upper middle income | 9.94 | 2025 |
Closest to Samoa in the 2025 ranking
- Japan — 4th of 112: 14.01
- Uzbekistan — 5th of 112: 13.59
- Switzerland — 6th of 112: 13.07
- China — 8th of 112: 11.94
- Algeria — 9th of 112: 11.63
- Iraq — 10th of 112: 11.6
What this measures
Reserve assets are external assets, including monetary gold, that are readily available to and controlled by monetary authorities for meeting balance of payments financing needs, for intervention in exchange markets to affect the currency exchange rate, and for other related purposes (such as maintaining confidence in the currency and the economy, and serving as a basis for foreign borrowing). Reserve assets must be denominated and settled in foreign currency. This item is expressed in terms of the number of months of imports of goods and services they could pay for [X/(Imports/12)].
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 45 values
| Year | Total reserves in months of imports |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 12.37 |
| 2024 | 9.82 |
| 2023 | 8.84 |
| 2022 | 7.07 |
| 2021 | 7.67 |
| 2020 | 8.18 |
| 2019 | 4.29 |
| 2018 | 4.22 |
| 2017 | 3.39 |
| 2016 | 2.46 |
| 2015 |
Total reserves in months of imports in nearby economies
- Australia — 1.58 (2025)
- Brunei Darussalam — 7.91 (2025)
- Cambodia — 7.91 (2025)
- China — 11.94 (2025)
- Fiji — 4.44 (2024)
- Hong Kong SAR, China — 5.69 (2023)
- Indonesia — 5.51 (2025)
- Japan — 14.01 (2025)
- Korea, Rep. — 6.46 (2025)
- Lao PDR — 3.43 (2025)
- Macao SAR, China
More economic policy & debt data for Samoa
- Grants, excluding technical cooperation (BoP, current US$) — US$114.41 million (2023)
- Technical cooperation grants (BoP, current US$) — US$14.69 million (2023)
- Net official development assistance and official aid received (current US$) — US$117.17 million (2023)
- Net official development assistance and official aid received (constant 2023 US$) — US$117.17 million (2023)
- Net official development assistance received (current US$) — US$117.17 million (2023)
- Net official development assistance received (constant 2023 US$) — US$117.17 million (2023)
- Net ODA received per capita (current US$) — US$540.81 (2023)
- Total reserves, including gold (current US$) — US$598.34 million (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Samoa's total reserves in months of imports?
- 12.37 in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1977?
- It is up 380.39% from 2.57 in 1977 (3.32% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 12.37 in 2025 and the lowest 0.45 in 1980.
- How does Samoa rank?
- 8th highest of 112 economies with data for 2025.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator FI.RES.TOTL.MO, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: International Financial Statistics database, 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.
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.
Legal entity
Devansh Yadav
Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Governing law: Courts at Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
Phone: +91 8433475698
Legal: legal@analyzeit.in