Sierra Leone's trade (% of GDP) was 49.1% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 12.61 percentage points from 36.48% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 49.1% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 30.61% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 36.48% | 2015 |
| Highest | 68.69% | 1990 |
| Lowest | 21.26% | 2008 |
| Average since 2016 | 42.23% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 58.59% | 1964 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Sierra Leone's trade (% of GDP) rose 8.55 percentage points on 2024 (from 40.55% to 49.1%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.49 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 11.04 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.8 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 28.23 percentage points in 1987 and the biggest yearly fall was 25.46 percentage points in 2006. 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 22% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2025, Sierra Leone had the 108th highest value of the 137 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 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sierra Leone | 49.1% | 2025 |
| World | 68.49% | 2025 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 55.68% | 2024 |
| Low income | 47.63% | 2025 |
Closest to Sierra Leone in the 2025 ranking
What this measures
Trade is the sum of exports and imports of goods and services. 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 62 values
| Year | Trade (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 49.1 |
| 2024 | 40.55 |
| 2023 | 55.29 |
| 2022 | 45.05 |
| 2021 | 42.14 |
| 2020 | 30.61 |
| 2019 | 37.56 |
| 2018 | 37.38 |
| 2017 | 41.52 |
| 2016 | 43.07 |
| 2015 | 36.48 |
Trade (% of GDP) in nearby economies
- Angola — 34.65% (2025)
- Benin — 37.12% (2025)
- Botswana — 69.54% (2025)
- Burkina Faso — 65% (2025)
- Cabo Verde — 95.33% (2025)
- Cameroon — 33.38% (2025)
- Central African Republic — 52.91% (2025)
- Chad — 46.13% (2025)
- Comoros — 40.89% (2025)
- Congo, Dem. Rep. — 87.33% (2025)
- Congo, Rep. — 91.67% (2025)
- Côte d'Ivoire — 54.56% (2025)
More economic policy & debt data for Sierra Leone
- GDP (current US$) — US$7.46 billion (2025)
- GDP (current LCU) — 169.12 billion (2025)
- GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$10.28 billion (2025)
- GDP (constant LCU) — 67.92 billion (2025)
- GDP per capita (current US$) — US$846.3 (2025)
- GDP per capita (current LCU) — 19,175 (2025)
- GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$1,166 (2025)
- GDP per capita (constant LCU) — 7,701 (2025)
- Total reserves, including gold (current US$) — US$433.27 million (2024)
- Total reserves, excluding gold (current US$) — US$433.27 million (2024)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Sierra Leone's trade (% of GDP)?
- 49.1% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1964?
- It is down 9.5 percentage points from 58.59% in 1964. The highest value was 68.69% in 1990 and the lowest 21.26% in 2008.
- How does Sierra Leone rank?
- 108th highest of 137 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in trade (% of GDP) unusual for Sierra Leone?
- In 2025, Sierra Leone's trade (% of GDP) rose 8.55 percentage points on 2024 (from 40.55% to 49.1%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.49 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 11.04 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.8 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NE.TRD.GNFS.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.
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.
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