World: Communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, World's communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP) rose 0.09 percentage points on 2024 (from 49.19% to 49.27%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.48 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.23 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 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 9.52 percentage points in 2020 and the biggest yearly fall was 5.17 percentage points in 2022. 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 12% 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.

What this measures

Communications, computer, information, and other services cover international telecommunications; computer data; news-related service transactions between residents and nonresidents; construction services; royalties and license fees; miscellaneous business, professional, and technical services; personal, cultural, and recreational services; manufacturing services on physical inputs owned by others; and maintenance and repair services and government services not included elsewhere. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service imports which are services provided by non-residents to residents.

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

All 45 values

Communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 16.29% (2020)
• Algeria — 38.04% (2025)
• Bahrain — 19.73% (2025)
• Djibouti — 7.12% (2024)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 26.14% (2025)
• Iraq — 14.37% (2025)
• Israel — 61.43% (2025)
• Jordan — 6.11% (2024)
• Kuwait — 5.34% (2025)
• Lebanon

More economic policy & debt data for World

• Charges for the use of intellectual property, payments (BoP, current US$) — US$753.95 billion (2025)
• Portfolio equity, net inflows (BoP, current US$) — US$1.88 trillion (2025)
• GDP (current US$) — US$118.35 trillion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$99.66 trillion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$14,406 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$12,131 (2025)
• GNI (current US$) — US$117.7 trillion (2025)
• GDP (annual % growth) — 2.92% (2025)
• GDP per capita (annual % growth) — 1.99% (2025)
• Charges for the use of intellectual property, receipts (BoP, current US$)

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 World's communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP)?

49.27% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1981?

It is up 12.46 percentage points from 36.81% in 1981. The highest value was 57.85% in 2020 and the lowest 32.85% in 1988.

Is the latest change in communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP) unusual for World?

In 2025, World's communications, computer, etc. (% of service imports, BoP) rose 0.09 percentage points on 2024 (from 49.19% to 49.27%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.48 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.23 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Where does this data come from?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator BM.GSR.CMCP.ZS, 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.

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.