Insurance and financial services in South Asia
South Asia: Insurance and financial services was 3.2% in 2025. ▲ Rising
Insurance and financial services in South Asia, 1975–2025
Source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF). Measured in % of commercial service imports.
Analysis
South Asia recorded 3.2% for insurance and financial services in 2025. That is the lowest value across all 51 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is down 22.1% on the previous year and down 42.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, insurance and financial services in South Asia peaked at 12.9% in 2001 and was at its lowest, 3.2%, in 2025.
That places South Asia 46th out of 47 groups with data for 2025, putting it in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 51 years of available data.
Insurance and financial services in South Asia, year by year
| Year | % of commercial service imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 5.9% | — |
| 1976 | 5.3% | -10.6% |
| 1977 | 5.5% | +3.3% |
| 1978 | 5.9% | +6.8% |
| 1979 | 5.6% | -3.9% |
| 1980 | 5.5% | -2.8% |
| 1981 | 5.2% | -5.7% |
| 1982 | 5.0% | -3.6% |
| 1983 | 4.7% | -5.2% |
| 1984 | 5.1% | +7.5% |
| 1985 | 5.0% | -0.8% |
| 1986 | 5.1% | +1.4% |
| 1987 | 4.8% | -5.1% |
| 1988 | 5.3% | +10.1% |
| 1989 | 5.8% | +9.0% |
| 1990 | 5.9% | +0.9% |
| 1991 | 6.0% | +2.0% |
| 1992 | 6.0% | +0.4% |
| 1993 | 6.6% | +10.9% |
| 1994 | 6.0% | -9.5% |
| 1995 | 5.5% | -8.3% |
| 1996 | 5.7% | +4.1% |
| 1997 | 5.6% | -1.8% |
| 1998 | 4.9% | -13.6% |
| 1999 | 4.1% | -16.1% |
| 2000 | 10.5% | +157.6% |
| 2001 | 12.9% | +22.9% |
| 2002 | 10.6% | -18.2% |
| 2003 | 6.7% | -36.3% |
| 2004 | 7.2% | +6.7% |
| 2005 | 6.9% | -4.5% |
| 2006 | 7.9% | +14.7% |
| 2007 | 8.7% | +10.5% |
| 2008 | 7.6% | -12.4% |
| 2009 | 8.7% | +13.6% |
| 2010 | 9.4% | +8.4% |
| 2011 | 11.3% | +20.5% |
| 2012 | 8.4% | -25.8% |
| 2013 | 8.9% | +6.6% |
| 2014 | 7.1% | -20.1% |
| 2015 | 5.6% | -21.9% |
| 2016 | 7.3% | +30.1% |
| 2017 | 7.5% | +3.6% |
| 2018 | 6.0% | -20.4% |
| 2019 | 4.4% | -25.9% |
| 2020 | 6.3% | +41.3% |
| 2021 | 6.3% | +0.2% |
| 2022 | 5.3% | -15.1% |
| 2023 | 4.6% | -13.0% |
| 2024 | 4.1% | -11.6% |
| 2025 | 3.2% | -22.1% |
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Insurance and financial services in South Asia 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | +157.6% | 4.1% | 10.5% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 5.6% | 5.3% | 5.9% | 5 |
| 1980s | 5.1% | 4.7% | 5.8% | 10 |
| 1990s | 5.6% | 4.1% | 6.6% | 10 |
| 2000s | 8.8% | 6.7% | 12.9% | 10 |
| 2010s | 7.6% | 4.4% | 11.3% | 10 |
| 2020s | 5.0% | 3.2% | 6.3% | 6 |
Countries ranked near South Asia
More private sector data for South Asia
- Merchandise trade 30.0% (2025)
- Food imports 5.6% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 47.1% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 864.53 billion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 11.8% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 67.0% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 510.58 billion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 301.72 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.1115 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 1.04 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is insurance and financial services in South Asia?
- Insurance and financial services in South Asia was 3.2% 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 South Asia?
- The highest recorded value was 12.9% in 2001.
- What is the lowest insurance and financial services recorded in South Asia?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.2% in 2025.
- How does South Asia rank for insurance and financial services?
- South Asia ranks 46th out of 47 groups with data for 2025.
- Is insurance and financial services rising or falling in South Asia?
- Over the last ten years it is down 42.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Asia 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.