Zambia: Services, value added (% of GDP)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Zambia's services, value added (% of GDP) fell 0.16 percentage points on 2024 (from 57.19% to 57.03%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.64 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.8 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 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 16.59 percentage points in 1994 and the biggest yearly fall was 10.03 percentage points in 1989. 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 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.45 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 43% 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 2025, Zambia had the 79th highest value of the 158 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 2025 ranking

• Honduras — 75th of 158: 57.57%
• Korea, Rep. — 76th of 158: 57.23%
• Dominica — 77th of 158: 57.22%
• Ecuador — 79th of 158: 56.97%
• Fiji — 80th of 158: 56.96%
• North Macedonia — 81st of 158: 56.95%

What this measures

Services industries correspond to ISIC (Rev. 4) divisions 45-99 and includes wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, hotels and restaurants, transport, storage and communication, financial intermediation, real estate, renting and business activities, public administration and defence, compulsory social security, education, health and social work, other community, social and personal service activities, private households with employed persons, and extra-territorial organizations and bodies. 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 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.

Limitations: In the services industry the many self-employed workers and one-person businesses are sometimes difficult to locate, and they have little incentive to respond to surveys, let alone to report their full earnings. Compounding these problems are the many forms of economic activity that go unrecorded, including the work that women and children do for little or no pay.

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

All 43 values

Services, value added (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Angola — 46.83% (2025)
• Benin — 50.06% (2025)
• Botswana — 64.63% (2025)
• Burkina Faso — 41.52% (2025)
• Burundi — 42.06% (2025)
• Cabo Verde — 67.92% (2025)
• Cameroon — 50.36% (2025)
• Central African Republic — 41.38% (2025)
• Chad — 33.89% (2025)
• Comoros — 48.81% (2025)
• Congo, Dem. Rep. — 47.96% (2025)

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 services, value added (% of GDP)?

57.03% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1983?

It is up 26.41 percentage points from 30.63% in 1983. The highest value was 57.19% in 2024 and the lowest 21.45% in 1993.

How does Zambia rank?

79th highest of 158 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in services, value added (% of GDP) unusual for Zambia?

In 2025, Zambia's services, value added (% of GDP) fell 0.16 percentage points on 2024 (from 57.19% to 57.03%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.64 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.8 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 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.SRV.TOTL.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Country official statistics, National Statistical Offices (NSOs); National Accounts data files, Central Banks; Staff estimates, World Bank (WB) 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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