Timor-Leste: Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Timor-Leste's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) fell 0.67 percentage points on 2024 (from 13.09% to 12.43%).

Across the 18 yearly changes before that (2007 to 2024), the average change was +0.12 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.55 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations below 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 7.46 percentage points in 2007 and the biggest yearly fall was 18.58 percentage points in 2009. 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 28% 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, Timor-Leste had the 26th highest value of the 134 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 Timor-Leste in the 2025 ranking

• New Zealand — 23rd of 134: 12.92%
• Japan — 24th of 134: 12.86%
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 25th of 134: 12.62%
• Dominican Republic — 27th of 134: 12.3%
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 28th of 134: 12.03%
• Chile — 29th of 134: 12.02%

What this measures

Financial services covers services related to financial intermediation, financial risk management, liquidity transformation or auxiliary financial activities. It also includes insurance and pension scheme services which are services related to providing life insurance and annuities, non-life insurance, reinsurance, pensions, standardised guarantees and auxiliary services to insurance, pension schemes, and standardised guarantee schemes. 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 20 values

Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) in nearby economies

• Australia — 2.45% (2025)
• Brunei Darussalam — 2.33% (2025)
• Cambodia — 8.93% (2025)
• China — 3.05% (2025)
• Fiji — 7.88% (2024)
• French Polynesia — 5.2% (2016)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 12.62% (2025)
• Indonesia — 9.53% (2025)
• Japan

More private sector & trade data for Timor-Leste

• Merchandise trade (% of GDP) — 56.88% (2025)
• Merchandise imports (current US$) — US$979 million (2025)
• Merchandise exports (current US$) — US$103 million (2025)
• Merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies outside region (% of total merchandise exports) — 2.15% (2023)
• Merchandise exports to low- and middle-income economies in Latin America & the Caribbean (% of total merchandise exports) — 0.27% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy, residual (% of total merchandise exports) — 0% (2023)
• Merchandise exports by the reporting economy (current US$) — US$165.55 million (2023)
• Import unit value index (2015 = 100)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Timor-Leste's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports)?

12.43% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2006?

It is up 1.43 percentage points from 10.99% in 2006. The highest value was 22.17% in 2008 and the lowest 2.18% in 2011.

How does Timor-Leste rank?

26th highest of 134 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) unusual for Timor-Leste?

In 2025, Timor-Leste's insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports) fell 0.67 percentage points on 2024 (from 13.09% to 12.43%). Across the 18 yearly changes before that (2007 to 2024), the average change was +0.12 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 5.55 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.1 standard deviations below 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.INSF.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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