Sri Lanka: Chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2022, Sri Lanka's chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing) fell 0.21 percentage points on 2021 (from 4.2% to 4%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1983 to 2021), the average change was −0.37 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.3 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 2.34 percentage points in 2013 and the biggest yearly fall was 9.69 percentage points in 2007. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2013 to 2022 the straight-line trend is downward, about 0.17 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 50% 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.

How it compares

In 2022, Sri Lanka had the 17th highest value of the 18 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 Sri Lanka in the 2022 ranking

• Côte d'Ivoire — 13th of 18: 5.46%
• Tanzania — 14th of 18: 4.68%
• Montenegro — 15th of 18: 4.32%
• Belarus — 17th of 18: 2.68%
• Iraq — 18th of 18: 0.67%

What this measures

Manufacturing of chemicals and chemical products includes industries classified in ISIC (Rev. 3) division 24. Value added is the contribution to the economy by a producer or an industry or an institutional sector, which is estimated by the total value of output produced and deducting the total value of intermediate consumption of goods and services used to produce that output. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of value added in manufacturing which is the contribution to the economy by the manufacturing sector (ISIC Rev. 3 major division D).

Limitations: In establishing classifications systems compilers must define both the types of activities to be described and the units whose activities are to be reported. There are many possibilities, and the choices affect how the statistics can be interpreted and how useful they are in analyzing economic behavior. The ISIC emphasizes commonalities in the production process and is explicitly not intended to measure outputs (for which there is a newly developed Central Product Classification). Nevertheless, the ISIC views an activity as defined by "a process resulting in a homogeneous set of products."

All 46 values

Chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing) in nearby economies

• Bangladesh — 3.06% (2020)
• India — 17% (2023)
• Nepal — 7.88% (2022)

More economic policy & debt data for Sri Lanka

• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$) — US$9.1 billion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current LCU) — 2.74 trillion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (constant 2015 US$) — US$6.84 billion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (constant LCU) — 929.67 billion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) — 8.36% (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (current US$) — US$18.63 billion (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (current LCU) — 5.61 trillion (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP) — 17.12% (2025)
• Industry, including construction, value added (current US$)

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 Sri Lanka's chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing)?

4% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1966?

It is down 12.52 percentage points from 16.51% in 1966. The highest value was 16.51% in 1966 and the lowest 2.83% in 1983.

How does Sri Lanka rank?

17th highest of 18 economies with data for 2022.

Is the latest change in chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing) unusual for Sri Lanka?

In 2022, Sri Lanka's chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing) fell 0.21 percentage points on 2021 (from 4.2% to 4%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1983 to 2021), the average change was −0.37 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.3 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.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NV.MNF.CHEM.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 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.