World 8.2bn peopleGDP $118tnLife expectancy 73.5 yrsOnline 73.6%
NotesAdvertise
World Report nowcountries in numbers
World Report now
  1. Home
  2. Rankings
  3. Trade & investment
  4. Low-income countries
Trade & investment · World Bank income group

Trade & investment in low-income countries: how the countries rank

How open economies are: exports, imports, investment, remittances and tourism. 13 indicators for the 25 economies in the low income group, ranked within the group; the group figure is the World Bank aggregate.

Exports23.6%low-income countries, 2025 · world 29.5%Imports33.9%low-income countries, 2025 · world 28.5%Trade openness47.6%low-income countries, 2025 · world 68.5%Current account-5.6%median countryMerchandise exports$107bnlow-income countries, 2025 · world $26.4tnHigh-tech exports2.1%low-income countries, 2023 · world 24.7%Fuel exports8.2%low-income countries, 2018 · world 9.5%Food exports38.0%low-income countries, 2018 · world 9.0%
Exports
low-income countriesWorldlower-middle-income countriesupper-middle-income countrieshigh-income countries
0%10%20%30%40%1995200020052010201520202025low-income countries23.6%Worldlower-middle-income countriesupper-middle-income countrieshigh-income countries
Imports
low-income countriesWorldlower-middle-income countriesupper-middle-income countrieshigh-income countries
0%10%20%30%40%1995200020052010201520202025low-income countries33.9%Worldlower-middle-income countriesupper-middle-income countrieshigh-income countries
countries

All 25 economies, trade & investment

Latest value and rank within the group (small figure). Click a column to sort; the country name opens its trade & investment profile.

25 shown
CountryExportsImportsTrade opennessCurrent accountMerchandise exportsHigh-tech exportsFuel exportsFood exports
Democratic Republic of the Congo43.4%#1 · 202543.9%#5 · 202587.3%#3 · 2025-4.3%#7 · 2025$32.1bn#1 · 20250.2%#14 · 20231.8%#7 · 20241.3%#14 · 2024
Mozambique41.4%#2 · 202555.7%#3 · 202597.1%#2 · 2025-14.2%#17 · 2025$8.1bn#4 · 20253.6%#6 · 202454.2%#2 · 202512.4%#10 · 2025
Burkina Faso35.0%#3 · 202530.0%#9 · 202565.0%#5 · 2025-4.0%#5 · 2024$11.1bn#3 · 20251.6%#10 · 20240.0%#12 · 20247.1%#11 · 2024
Chad29.4%#4 · 202516.7%#18 · 202546.1%#13 · 2025—$4.0bn#7 · 2025———
Somalia29.2%#5 · 202598.8%#1 · 2025128.1%#1 · 2025—$1.3bn#15 · 2025———
Mali22.1%#6 · 202526.7%#15 · 202548.8%#12 · 2025-4.3%#6 · 2024$4.9bn#6 · 20255.4%#3 · 20231.6%#8 · 20236.2%#12 · 2023
Rwanda21.6%#7 · 202535.1%#6 · 202556.7%#7 · 2025-12.0%#13 · 2024$2.5bn#11 · 20254.8%#4 · 20220.1%#9 · 202227.2%#8 · 2022
Uganda21.4%#8 · 202528.8%#10 · 202550.2%#10 · 2025-5.2%#8 · 2025$12.5bn#2 · 20251.9%#8 · 20242.3%#4 · 202439.3%#6 · 2024
Madagascar21.3%#9 · 202532.9%#8 · 202554.2%#8 · 2025-5.2%#9 · 2025$2.5bn#10 · 20251.0%#12 · 20242.6%#3 · 202430.5%#7 · 2024
Sierra Leone20.9%#10 · 202528.2%#13 · 202549.1%#11 · 2025-14.1%#16 · 2024$1.5bn#14 · 2025———
Central African Republic19.3%#11 · 202533.6%#7 · 202552.9%#9 · 2025—$255m#24 · 20258.3%#2 · 20240.0%#11 · 20240.2%#15 · 2024
Niger15.8%#12 · 202518.1%#17 · 202533.9%#17 · 2025-6.1%#10 · 2024$1.9bn#13 · 20258.6%#1 · 202488.0%#1 · 20244.1%#13 · 2024
Afghanistan15.7%#13 · 202468.1%#2 · 202483.8%#4 · 2024-15.7%#18 · 2020$926m#18 · 20250.0%#15 · 2019——
Guinea-Bissau13.9%#14 · 202527.0%#14 · 202540.9%#14 · 2025-7.4%#11 · 2024$313m#23 · 2025———
Ethiopia13.3%#15 · 202520.2%#16 · 202533.5%#18 · 2025-2.5%#3 · 2024$7.6bn#5 · 20253.8%#5 · 20230.0%#10 · 202380.4%#3 · 2023
The Gambia12.7%#16 · 202549.4%#4 · 202562.2%#6 · 2025-2.9%#4 · 2025$514m#21 · 20253.3%#7 · 20240.0%#15 · 202490.7%#2 · 2024
Malawi10.6%#17 · 202528.8%#11 · 202539.4%#15 · 2025-14.0%#15 · 2025$947m#17 · 20251.6%#9 · 20240.0%#14 · 202593.3%#1 · 2025
Syria6.8%#18 · 202228.7%#12 · 202235.4%#16 · 2022—$3.4bn#8 · 2025———
Sudan1.1%#19 · 20251.3%#19 · 20252.4%#19 · 2025-8.5%#12 · 2025$2.8bn#9 · 2025———
Burundi———-13.7%#14 · 2025$332m#22 · 20251.3%#11 · 20231.9%#5 · 202346.0%#5 · 2023
Eritrea————$631m#19 · 2025———
Liberia———2.5%#2 · 2024$2.1bn#12 · 20250.6%#13 · 20231.8%#6 · 202324.5%#9 · 2023
North Korea————$611m#20 · 2025———
South Sudan———7.9%#1 · 2023$955m#16 · 2025———
Yemen————$196m#25 · 2025—0.0%#13 · 202463.4%#4 · 2024
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0)Ranks count group members with a value in the recent window.
within the group

Highest and lowest, indicator by indicator

Exports19 countries
  1. 1Democratic Republic of the Congo43.4%2025
  2. 2Mozambique41.4%2025
  3. 3Burkina Faso35.0%2025
Lowest
  1. 19Sudan1.1%2025
  2. 18Syria6.8%2022
  3. 17Malawi10.6%2025
Median country 20.9% · group 23.6%
Imports19 countries
  1. 1Somalia98.8%2025
  2. 2Afghanistan68.1%2024
  3. 3Mozambique55.7%2025
Lowest
  1. 19Sudan1.3%2025
  2. 18Chad16.7%2025
  3. 17Niger18.1%2025
Median country 28.8% · group 33.9%
Trade openness19 countries
  1. 1Somalia128.1%2025
  2. 2Mozambique97.1%2025
  3. 3Democratic Republic of the Congo87.3%2025
Lowest
  1. 19Sudan2.4%2025
  2. 18Ethiopia33.5%2025
  3. 17Niger33.9%2025
Median country 50.2% · group 47.6%
Current account18 countries
  1. 1South Sudan7.9%2023
  2. 2Liberia2.5%2024
  3. 3Ethiopia-2.5%2024
Lowest
  1. 18Afghanistan-15.7%2020
  2. 17Mozambique-14.2%2025
  3. 16Sierra Leone-14.1%2024
Median country -5.6%
Merchandise exports25 countries
  1. 1Democratic Republic of the Congo$32.1bn2025
  2. 2Uganda$12.5bn2025
  3. 3Burkina Faso$11.1bn2025
Lowest
  1. 25Yemen$196m2025
  2. 24Central African Republic$255m2025
  3. 23Guinea-Bissau$313m2025
Median country $1.9bn · group $107bn
High-tech exports15 countries
  1. 1Niger8.6%2024
  2. 2Central African Republic8.3%2024
  3. 3Mali5.4%2023
Lowest
  1. 15Afghanistan0.0%2019
  2. 14Democratic Republic of the Congo0.2%2023
  3. 13Liberia0.6%2023
Median country 1.9% · group 2.1%
Fuel exports15 countries
  1. 1Niger88.0%2024
  2. 2Mozambique54.2%2025
  3. 3Madagascar2.6%2024
Lowest
  1. 15The Gambia0.0%2024
  2. 14Malawi0.0%2025
  3. 13Yemen0.0%2024
Median country 1.6% · group 8.2%
Food exports15 countries
  1. 1Malawi93.3%2025
  2. 2The Gambia90.7%2024
  3. 3Ethiopia80.4%2023
Lowest
  1. 15Central African Republic0.2%2024
  2. 14Democratic Republic of the Congo1.3%2024
  3. 13Niger4.1%2024
Median country 27.2% · group 38.0%
Average tariff21 countries
  1. 1Chad16.8%2022
  2. 2The Gambia16.4%2022
  3. 3Central African Republic14.5%2022
Lowest
  1. 21Sudan0.0%2021
  2. 20Mozambique4.2%2021
  3. 19Yemen5.0%2017
Median country 8.7%
FDI inflows20 countries
  1. 1Mozambique25.8%2025
  2. 2The Gambia10.6%2025
  3. 3Liberia9.5%2025
Lowest
  1. 20Sudan0.0%2025
  2. 19Chad0.0%2025
  3. 18Afghanistan0.1%2021
Median country 2.6% · group 3.7%
Remittances17 countries
  1. 1The Gambia23.8%2025
  2. 2Liberia21.3%2024
  3. 3Guinea-Bissau9.9%2024
Lowest
  1. 17Sudan0.0%2025
  2. 16Mozambique1.2%2025
  3. 15Malawi2.0%2025
Median country 4.0% · group 3.4%
Tourist arrivals20 countries
  1. 1Syria2.4m2019
  2. 2Mozambique2.0m2019
  3. 3Rwanda1.6m2019
Lowest
  1. 20Chad10,4002020
  2. 19Guinea-Bissau52,4002019
  3. 18Burkina Faso67,0002020
Median country 272,500 · group 17.4m
Tourism receipts18 countries
  1. 1Ethiopia$2.3bn2020
  2. 2Sudan$1.0bn2018
  3. 3Uganda$518m2020
Lowest
  1. 18South Sudan$12.0m2018
  2. 17Guinea-Bissau$18.9m2019
  3. 16Malawi$35.0m2020
Median country $114m · group $11.8bn
more

Other topics in low-income countries

Low income: overview
PopulationEconomyPrices & public financeLabourAid, poverty & equalityEducationHealthDigital & energy accessEnvironment