Sri Lanka: Merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise exports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2023, Sri Lanka's merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise exports) rose 0.43 percentage points on 2022 (from 9.89% to 10.32%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1993 to 2022), the average change was +0.24 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.99 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 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 6.82 percentage points in 1972 and the biggest yearly fall was 5.73 percentage points in 1974. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2014 to 2023 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.22 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 78% 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 10.87% for 2026. We show this only because the same method, fitted on earlier years, predicted 2021 to 2023 better than "no change" would have: its average miss was 0.19%, against 0.84% 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 2023, Sri Lanka had the 113th highest value of the 201 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 2023 ranking

• Greece — 110th of 201: 11.57%
• Bahrain — 111th of 201: 10.77%
• Romania — 112th of 201: 10.58%
• Nigeria — 114th of 201: 10.21%
• Ethiopia — 115th of 201: 10.06%
• Oman — 116th of 201: 9.87%

What this measures

Merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies within region are the sum of merchandise exports from the reporting economy to other low- and middle-income economies in the same World Bank region as a percentage of total merchandise exports by the economy. Data are computed only if at least half of the economies in the partner country group had non-missing data. No figures are shown for high-income economies, because they are a separate category in the World Bank classification of economies.

Limitations: Data on exports and imports are from the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Direction of Trade database and should be broadly consistent with data from other sources, such as the United Nations Statistics Division's Commodity Trade (Comtrade) database. All high-income economies and major low- and middle-income economies report trade data to the IMF on a timely basis, covering about 85 percent of trade for recent years. Trade data for less timely reporters and for countries that do not report are estimated using reports of trading partner countries. Therefore, data on trade between developing and high-income economies should be generally complete.

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

All 64 values

Merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise exports) in nearby economies

• Bangladesh — 4.54% (2023)
• Bhutan — 95.89% (2023)
• India — 5.71% (2023)
• Maldives — 6.09% (2023)
• Nepal — 70.54% (2023)

More private sector & trade data for Sri Lanka

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 32.22% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$21.48 billion (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$13.58 billion (2025)
• Merchandise imports from high-income economies (% of total merchandise imports) — 44.93% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise imports) — 33.51% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in East Asia & Pacific (% of total merchandise imports) — 29.14% (2023)
• Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in South Asia (% of total merchandise imports) — 21.56% (2023)

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 merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise exports)?

10.32% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TX.VAL.MRCH.WR.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Staff estimates, World Bank (WB); Direction of Trade 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.

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