Insurance and financial services in Nigeria
Nigeria: Insurance and financial services was 8.8% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Insurance and financial services in Nigeria, 1977–2025
Source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of commercial service imports.
Analysis
Nigeria recorded 8.8% for insurance and financial services in 2025.
That represents a change of up 2.7% on the previous year and up 11.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, insurance and financial services in Nigeria peaked at 9.4% in 2016 and was at its lowest, 0.5%, in 2005.
Nigeria ranks 67th of 197 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 47 years of available data.
Insurance and financial services in Nigeria, year by year
| Year | % of commercial service imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 3.5% | — |
| 1978 | 4.3% | +23.6% |
| 1979 | 3.7% | -15.5% |
| 1980 | 2.8% | -24.6% |
| 1981 | 4.4% | +60.5% |
| 1982 | 3.5% | -21.3% |
| 1983 | 4.2% | +20.0% |
| 1984 | 3.8% | -8.5% |
| 1985 | 3.9% | +2.5% |
| 1986 | 2.2% | -44.8% |
| 1987 | 3.4% | +54.7% |
| 1988 | 4.6% | +38.0% |
| 1989 | 3.6% | -22.6% |
| 1990 | 3.1% | -12.9% |
| 1991 | 4.6% | +46.1% |
| 1992 | 4.9% | +8.3% |
| 1993 | 3.0% | -39.3% |
| 1994 | 2.6% | -14.0% |
| 1995 | 2.5% | -1.2% |
| 1996 | 1.0% | -59.5% |
| 1997 | 2.3% | +127.5% |
| 1998 | 2.1% | -10.5% |
| 1999 | 2.8% | +33.7% |
| 2000 | 2.8% | +0.1% |
| 2001 | 2.8% | -0.0% |
| 2002 | 2.8% | -0.0% |
| 2005 | 0.5% | -83.4% |
| 2006 | 2.5% | +440.9% |
| 2007 | 1.4% | -44.3% |
| 2008 | 4.6% | +229.8% |
| 2009 | 2.7% | -42.2% |
| 2010 | 2.7% | +0.7% |
| 2011 | 4.5% | +68.7% |
| 2012 | 5.2% | +13.7% |
| 2013 | 4.8% | -7.2% |
| 2014 | 6.8% | +41.4% |
| 2015 | 7.9% | +17.0% |
| 2016 | 9.4% | +18.0% |
| 2017 | 7.5% | -19.8% |
| 2018 | 4.0% | -47.3% |
| 2019 | 3.7% | -7.0% |
| 2020 | 6.5% | +76.3% |
| 2021 | 7.0% | +7.3% |
| 2022 | 6.1% | -12.2% |
| 2023 | 6.1% | -0.6% |
| 2024 | 8.6% | +41.3% |
| 2025 | 8.8% | +2.7% |
Nigeria compared with similar countries
- Nigeria's 8.8% is above the median for lower middle income countries, which is 6.5%, 1.3× the median. (47 countries reporting)
- Nigeria's 8.8% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 6.5%, 1.3× the median. (45 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Insurance and financial services in Nigeria 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | +440.9% | 0.5% | 2.5% |
| 2008 | +229.8% | 1.4% | 4.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 3.8% | 3.5% | 4.3% | 3 |
| 1980s | 3.6% | 2.2% | 4.6% | 10 |
| 1990s | 2.9% | 1.0% | 4.9% | 10 |
| 2000s | 2.5% | 0.5% | 4.6% | 8 |
| 2010s | 5.6% | 2.7% | 9.4% | 10 |
| 2020s | 7.2% | 6.1% | 8.8% | 6 |
Countries ranked near Nigeria
More private sector data for Nigeria
- Merchandise trade 33.3% (2025)
- Food imports 11.0% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 46.0% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 41.45 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 6.0% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 3.5% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 55.47 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 233.52 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.1907 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 4.03 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is insurance and financial services in Nigeria?
- Insurance and financial services in Nigeria was 8.8% 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 Nigeria?
- The highest recorded value was 9.4% in 2016.
- What is the lowest insurance and financial services recorded in Nigeria?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.5% in 2005.
- How does Nigeria rank for insurance and financial services?
- Nigeria ranks 67th out of 197 countries with data for 2025.
- Is insurance and financial services rising or falling in Nigeria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 11.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Nigeria 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 — 47 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.