Zambia: Chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Zambia's chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing) rose 0.33 percentage points on 2023 (from 18.28% to 18.61%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1965 to 2023), the average change was +1.02 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.33 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 8.95 percentage points in 2011 and the biggest yearly fall was 7.33 percentage points in 2013. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2015 to 2024 the straight-line trend is upward, about 1.11 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 72% 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 2024, Zambia had the 3rd highest value of the 13 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 Zambia in the 2024 ranking

• United States — 1st of 13: 19.23%
• Morocco — 2nd of 13: 18.7%
• Argentina — 4th of 13: 13.83%
• Uruguay — 5th of 13: 12.87%
• Canada — 6th of 13: 10.32%

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 36 values

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

• Botswana — 10.11% (2023)
• Burundi — 2.79% (2015)
• Cameroon — 3.6% (2018)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 20.67% (2022)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 5.46% (2022)
• Ethiopia — 10.62% (2015)
• Ghana — 6.32% (2015)
• Kenya — 9.94% (2023)
• Malawi — 3.13% (2021)
• Namibia — 5% (2023)

More economic policy & debt data for Zambia

• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$) — US$1.19 billion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current LCU) — 29.79 billion (2025)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (% of GDP) — 4.11% (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (current US$) — US$2.53 billion (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (current LCU) — 63.49 billion (2025)
• Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP) — 8.75% (2025)
• Industry, including construction, value added (current US$) — US$10.2 billion (2025)
• Industry, including construction, value added (current LCU) — 256.39 billion (2025)
• Industry, including construction, value added (% of GDP)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Zambia's chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing)?

18.61% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1963?

It is up 16.54 percentage points from 2.07% in 1963. The highest value was 18.61% in 2024 and the lowest 2.07% in 1963.

How does Zambia rank?

3rd highest of 13 economies with data for 2024.

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

In 2024, Zambia's chemicals (% of value added in manufacturing) rose 0.33 percentage points on 2023 (from 18.28% to 18.61%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1965 to 2023), the average change was +1.02 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 3.33 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.

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.

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