Timor-Leste: Transport services (% of commercial service imports)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Timor-Leste's transport services (% of commercial service imports) rose 2.02 percentage points on 2024 (from 29.27% to 31.28%).

Across the 18 yearly changes before that (2007 to 2024), the average change was +0.41 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.59 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 17.06 percentage points in 2007 and the biggest yearly fall was 20.45 percentage points in 2008. 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 25% 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 57th 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

• El Salvador — 53rd of 134: 31.93%
• Cabo Verde — 54th of 134: 31.59%
• Singapore — 55th of 134: 31.34%
• Bulgaria — 57th of 134: 30.57%
• Slovak Republic — 58th of 134: 30.17%
• Saudi Arabia — 59th of 134: 29.85%

What this measures

Transport is the process of carriage of people and objects from one location to another as well as related supporting and auxiliary services. Also included are postal and courier services. 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

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

• Australia — 16.35% (2025)
• Brunei Darussalam — 16.22% (2025)
• Cambodia — 54.32% (2025)
• China — 17.88% (2025)
• Fiji — 46.57% (2024)
• French Polynesia — 31.16% (2016)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 20.99% (2025)
• Indonesia — 23.9% (2025)
• Japan — 13.58% (2025)
• Kiribati

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 transport services (% of commercial service imports)?

31.28% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 2006?

It is up 9.45 percentage points from 21.83% in 2006. The highest value was 38.89% in 2007 and the lowest 6.2% in 2020.

How does Timor-Leste rank?

57th highest of 134 economies with data for 2025.

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

In 2025, Timor-Leste's transport services (% of commercial service imports) rose 2.02 percentage points on 2024 (from 29.27% to 31.28%). Across the 18 yearly changes before that (2007 to 2024), the average change was +0.41 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.59 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.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator TM.VAL.TRAN.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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