Insurance and financial services in Barbados
Barbados: Insurance and financial services was 6.4% in 2017. ▲ Rising
Insurance and financial services in Barbados, 1967–2017
Source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of commercial service imports.
Analysis
Barbados recorded 6.4% for insurance and financial services in 2017.
That represents a change of down 38.0% on the previous year and up 9.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, insurance and financial services in Barbados peaked at 10.8% in 2000 and was at its lowest, 1.4%, in 1979.
Barbados ranks 93rd of 197 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 51 years of available data.
Insurance and financial services in Barbados, year by year
| Year | % of commercial service imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | 8.1% | — |
| 1968 | 6.2% | -23.1% |
| 1969 | 5.1% | -17.3% |
| 1970 | 4.6% | -10.2% |
| 1971 | 4.4% | -5.0% |
| 1972 | 4.0% | -8.8% |
| 1973 | 3.9% | -1.5% |
| 1974 | 4.9% | +23.9% |
| 1975 | 4.7% | -4.6% |
| 1976 | 4.6% | -1.3% |
| 1977 | 3.9% | -14.4% |
| 1978 | 3.7% | -5.7% |
| 1979 | 1.4% | -62.3% |
| 1980 | 2.5% | +78.5% |
| 1981 | 2.5% | -0.1% |
| 1982 | 2.5% | +1.9% |
| 1983 | 2.6% | +3.2% |
| 1984 | 3.9% | +49.5% |
| 1985 | 3.8% | -4.2% |
| 1986 | 4.9% | +29.6% |
| 1987 | 5.2% | +6.9% |
| 1988 | 5.2% | -0.9% |
| 1989 | 5.4% | +5.3% |
| 1990 | 8.3% | +52.9% |
| 1991 | 7.0% | -15.5% |
| 1992 | 8.1% | +15.4% |
| 1993 | 8.5% | +4.8% |
| 1994 | 10.7% | +25.4% |
| 1995 | 9.3% | -13.1% |
| 1996 | 8.1% | -12.1% |
| 1997 | 6.9% | -15.3% |
| 1998 | 7.2% | +4.0% |
| 1999 | 7.3% | +1.1% |
| 2000 | 10.8% | +49.1% |
| 2001 | 7.3% | -32.2% |
| 2002 | 7.2% | -2.1% |
| 2003 | 5.9% | -17.7% |
| 2004 | 5.5% | -6.7% |
| 2005 | 6.1% | +10.5% |
| 2006 | 6.5% | +6.6% |
| 2007 | 5.9% | -9.9% |
| 2008 | 4.6% | -20.6% |
| 2009 | 4.1% | -12.0% |
| 2010 | 3.7% | -9.2% |
| 2011 | 5.6% | +51.5% |
| 2012 | 5.2% | -7.2% |
| 2013 | 5.0% | -3.5% |
| 2014 | 3.4% | -33.4% |
| 2015 | 8.3% | +148.1% |
| 2016 | 10.4% | +24.2% |
| 2017 | 6.4% | -38.0% |
Barbados compared with similar countries
- Barbados's 6.4% is above the median for high income countries, which is 6.4%, 1.0× the median. (72 countries reporting)
- Barbados's 6.4% is below the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 10.1%, 64% of the median. (37 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Insurance and financial services in Barbados changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | +148.1% | 3.4% | 8.3% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 6.5% | 5.1% | 8.1% | 3 |
| 1970s | 4.0% | 1.4% | 4.9% | 10 |
| 1980s | 3.9% | 2.5% | 5.4% | 10 |
| 1990s | 8.1% | 6.9% | 10.7% | 10 |
| 2000s | 6.4% | 4.1% | 10.8% | 10 |
| 2010s | 6.0% | 3.4% | 10.4% | 8 |
Countries ranked near Barbados
More private sector data for Barbados
- Merchandise trade 33.1% (2025)
- Food imports 22.7% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 52.6% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 2.23 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 43.5% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 39.9% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 428.00 million current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 1,514 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.0534 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate -7.16 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is insurance and financial services in Barbados?
- Insurance and financial services in Barbados was 6.4% in 2017, according to Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest insurance and financial services recorded in Barbados?
- The highest recorded value was 10.8% in 2000.
- What is the lowest insurance and financial services recorded in Barbados?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.4% in 1979.
- How does Barbados rank for insurance and financial services?
- Barbados ranks 93rd out of 197 countries with data for 2017.
- Is insurance and financial services rising or falling in Barbados?
- Over the last ten years it is up 9.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Barbados data come from?
- The figures come from Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF), published as part of Insurance and financial services (% of commercial service imports). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 51 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Financial services covers services related to financial intermediation, financial risk management, liquidity transformation or auxiliary financial activities. It also includes insurance and pension scheme services which are services related to providing life insurance and annuities, non-life insurance, reinsurance, pensions, standardised guarantees and auxiliary services to insurance, pension schemes, and standardised guarantee schemes. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service imports which are commercial services provided by non-residents to residents.