Zambia: Food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2024, Zambia's food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) fell 5.58 percentage points on 2023 (from 38.58% to 33%).

Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1964 to 2023), the average change was −0.16 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.33 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 8.49 percentage points in 1968 and the biggest yearly fall was 7.16 percentage points in 1966. 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 18% 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 2024, Zambia had the 12th highest value of the 21 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

• Côte d'Ivoire — 9th of 21: 44.36%
• New Zealand — 10th of 21: 39.85%
• Chile — 11th of 21: 39.6%
• Argentina — 13th of 21: 32.57%
• Morocco — 14th of 21: 29.93%
• Peru — 15th of 21: 27.88%

What this measures

Manufacturing of food, beverages, and tobacco includes industries classified in ISIC (Rev. 3) divisions 15 and 16. 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 33 values

Food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) in nearby economies

• Botswana — 30.27% (2023)
• Burundi — 87.63% (2015)
• Cameroon — 52.61% (2024)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 63.51% (2022)
• Côte d'Ivoire — 44.36% (2024)
• Ethiopia — 36.62% (2015)
• Ghana — 34.58% (2015)
• Guinea-Bissau — 54.88% (2024)
• Kenya

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 food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing)?

33% in 2024, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1963?

It is down 10.92 percentage points from 43.92% in 1963. The highest value was 50.73% in 1972 and the lowest 30.56% in 2011.

How does Zambia rank?

12th highest of 21 economies with data for 2024.

Is the latest change in food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) unusual for Zambia?

In 2024, Zambia's food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) fell 5.58 percentage points on 2023 (from 38.58% to 33%). Across the 27 yearly changes before that (1964 to 2023), the average change was −0.16 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 4.33 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.3 standard deviations below that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NV.MNF.FBTO.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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