Insurance and financial services in El Salvador
El Salvador: Insurance and financial services was 14.3% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Insurance and financial services in El Salvador, 1976–2025
Source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of commercial service imports.
Analysis
The most recent figure for insurance and financial services in El Salvador is 14.3%, measured in 2025.
That represents a change of down 13.4% on the previous year and down 23.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, insurance and financial services in El Salvador peaked at 26.8% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 7.1%, in 1996.
El Salvador ranks 22nd of 197 countries on this measure, in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 50 years of available data.
Insurance and financial services in El Salvador, year by year
| Year | % of commercial service imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | 10.5% | — |
| 1977 | 10.5% | +0.1% |
| 1978 | 7.9% | -24.8% |
| 1979 | 9.1% | +15.4% |
| 1980 | 12.2% | +33.9% |
| 1981 | 13.2% | +7.7% |
| 1982 | 11.8% | -10.6% |
| 1983 | 13.2% | +12.2% |
| 1984 | 15.1% | +14.4% |
| 1985 | 13.7% | -9.2% |
| 1986 | 11.8% | -13.9% |
| 1987 | 13.9% | +17.5% |
| 1988 | 13.3% | -4.3% |
| 1989 | 14.6% | +9.8% |
| 1990 | 12.0% | -17.6% |
| 1991 | 11.3% | -6.0% |
| 1992 | 11.6% | +2.4% |
| 1993 | 11.7% | +0.7% |
| 1994 | 11.6% | -0.6% |
| 1995 | 11.0% | -5.0% |
| 1996 | 7.1% | -35.9% |
| 1997 | 16.5% | +133.9% |
| 1998 | 14.2% | -14.3% |
| 1999 | 17.6% | +24.1% |
| 2000 | 16.0% | -9.3% |
| 2001 | 11.4% | -28.8% |
| 2002 | 12.7% | +11.6% |
| 2003 | 11.7% | -7.6% |
| 2004 | 13.2% | +12.5% |
| 2005 | 11.2% | -15.3% |
| 2006 | 11.8% | +5.9% |
| 2007 | 10.5% | -11.1% |
| 2008 | 11.9% | +13.3% |
| 2009 | 13.9% | +16.4% |
| 2010 | 12.6% | -8.9% |
| 2011 | 13.5% | +6.8% |
| 2012 | 16.4% | +21.2% |
| 2013 | 18.5% | +13.0% |
| 2014 | 20.9% | +13.2% |
| 2015 | 18.6% | -11.2% |
| 2016 | 17.1% | -8.1% |
| 2017 | 18.2% | +6.4% |
| 2018 | 18.8% | +3.3% |
| 2019 | 19.5% | +4.0% |
| 2020 | 26.8% | +37.3% |
| 2021 | 19.2% | -28.5% |
| 2022 | 13.8% | -28.1% |
| 2023 | 15.4% | +11.6% |
| 2024 | 16.5% | +7.4% |
| 2025 | 14.3% | -13.4% |
El Salvador compared with similar countries
- El Salvador's 14.3% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 6.3%, 2.3× the median. (55 countries reporting)
- El Salvador's 14.3% is above the median for Latin America & Caribbean, which is 10.1%, 1.4× the median. (37 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Insurance and financial services in El Salvador 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | +133.9% | 7.1% | 16.5% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 9.5% | 7.9% | 10.5% | 4 |
| 1980s | 13.3% | 11.8% | 15.1% | 10 |
| 1990s | 12.5% | 7.1% | 17.6% | 10 |
| 2000s | 12.4% | 10.5% | 16.0% | 10 |
| 2010s | 17.4% | 12.6% | 20.9% | 10 |
| 2020s | 17.7% | 13.8% | 26.8% | 6 |
Countries ranked near El Salvador
More private sector data for El Salvador
- Merchandise trade 66.1% (2025)
- Food imports 20.1% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 62.0% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 17.85 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 22.9% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 70.0% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 6.43 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 1,010 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.1751 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 1.87 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is insurance and financial services in El Salvador?
- Insurance and financial services in El Salvador was 14.3% in 2025, according to Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- What is the highest insurance and financial services recorded in El Salvador?
- The highest recorded value was 26.8% in 2020.
- What is the lowest insurance and financial services recorded in El Salvador?
- The lowest recorded value was 7.1% in 1996.
- How does El Salvador rank for insurance and financial services?
- El Salvador ranks 22nd out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is insurance and financial services rising or falling in El Salvador?
- Over the last ten years it is down 23.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this El Salvador 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 — 50 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.