Sierra Leone: Travel services (% of commercial service imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Sierra Leone's travel services (% of commercial service imports) rose 0.76 percentage points on 2023 (from 3.86% to 4.62%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −1.41 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.64 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 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 27.45 percentage points in 1987 and the biggest yearly fall was 24.17 percentage points in 1988. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 8% 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 2024, Sierra Leone had the 22nd highest value of the 28 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 Sierra Leone in the 2024 ranking

• Burkina Faso — 18th of 28: 7.29%
• Côte d'Ivoire — 19th of 28: 6.86%
• Namibia — 20th of 28: 4.68%
• Ethiopia — 22nd of 28: 4.55%
• Mauritania — 23rd of 28: 3.93%
• Malta — 24th of 28: 3.88%

What this measures

Travel services cover goods and services for own use or to give away acquired from an economy by nonresidents during visits to that economy, or acquired from other economies by residents during visits to these other economies. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service imports which are commercial services provided by non-residents to residents.

Limitations: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data.

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

All 48 values

Travel services (% of commercial service imports) in nearby economies

• Angola — 16.91% (2025)
• Benin — 3.34% (2023)
• Botswana — 9.37% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 7.29% (2024)
• Burundi — 9.26% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 30.04% (2025)
• Cameroon — 7.76% (2024)
• Comoros — 39.87% (2023)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 6.4% (2025)
• Congo, Rep.

More private sector & trade data for Sierra Leone

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 45.91% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$1.89 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$1.53 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports to high-income economies (% of total merchandise exports) — 13.74% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports) — 0.00395% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$513.99 million (2023)
• Merchandise imports from economies in the Arab World (% of total merchandise imports) — 10.91% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
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• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Sierra Leone's travel services (% of commercial service imports)?

4.62% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1977?

It is down 3.63 percentage points from 8.26% in 1977. The highest value was 66.2% in 1994 and the lowest 2.88% in 2012.

How does Sierra Leone rank?

22nd highest of 28 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in travel services (% of commercial service imports) unusual for Sierra Leone?

In 2024, Sierra Leone's travel services (% of commercial service imports) rose 0.76 percentage points on 2023 (from 3.86% to 4.62%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1994 to 2023), the average change was −1.41 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.64 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.3 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 TM.VAL.TRVL.ZS.WT, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, 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.

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