Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within in Lower middle income
Lower middle income: Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within was 9.5% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within in Lower middle income, 1960–2023
Source: Staff estimates, World Bank (WB). Measured in % of total merchandise imports.
Analysis
Lower middle income recorded 9.5% for merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within in 2023.
That represents a change of up 5.1% on the previous year and down 8.1% over ten years.
Over the whole period, merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within in Lower middle income peaked at 14.4% in 2001 and was at its lowest, 3.5%, in 1962.
That places Lower middle income 33rd out of 46 groups with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 64 years of available data.
Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within in Lower middle income, year by year
| Year | % of total merchandise imports | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 3.9% | — |
| 1961 | 3.6% | -6.7% |
| 1962 | 3.5% | -2.0% |
| 1963 | 4.4% | +23.6% |
| 1964 | 6.9% | +57.8% |
| 1965 | 7.2% | +4.3% |
| 1966 | 5.7% | -20.8% |
| 1967 | 5.7% | +0.4% |
| 1968 | 6.9% | +21.4% |
| 1969 | 7.1% | +2.9% |
| 1970 | 6.4% | -10.1% |
| 1971 | 5.8% | -9.1% |
| 1972 | 6.7% | +14.6% |
| 1973 | 7.1% | +5.6% |
| 1974 | 6.8% | -3.4% |
| 1975 | 5.7% | -15.8% |
| 1976 | 5.7% | +0.1% |
| 1977 | 5.5% | -3.6% |
| 1978 | 4.9% | -11.2% |
| 1979 | 5.5% | +11.7% |
| 1980 | 6.2% | +13.3% |
| 1981 | 5.1% | -18.4% |
| 1982 | 5.4% | +7.0% |
| 1983 | 5.2% | -4.2% |
| 1984 | 5.9% | +12.5% |
| 1985 | 5.9% | +1.5% |
| 1986 | 5.2% | -11.9% |
| 1987 | 5.9% | +13.1% |
| 1988 | 5.7% | -4.3% |
| 1989 | 6.9% | +21.7% |
| 1990 | 7.3% | +5.9% |
| 1991 | 7.7% | +4.9% |
| 1992 | 8.4% | +9.1% |
| 1993 | 9.2% | +10.4% |
| 1994 | 9.9% | +7.3% |
| 1995 | 10.9% | +10.1% |
| 1996 | 11.2% | +2.6% |
| 1997 | 10.6% | -5.5% |
| 1998 | 10.4% | -1.8% |
| 1999 | 9.6% | -7.9% |
| 2000 | 13.7% | +43.7% |
| 2001 | 14.4% | +4.6% |
| 2002 | 13.2% | -7.9% |
| 2003 | 12.5% | -5.5% |
| 2004 | 13.6% | +8.8% |
| 2005 | 13.2% | -2.9% |
| 2006 | 11.8% | -10.8% |
| 2007 | 11.5% | -2.1% |
| 2008 | 10.2% | -11.4% |
| 2009 | 10.5% | +3.1% |
| 2010 | 9.7% | -7.6% |
| 2011 | 9.9% | +1.4% |
| 2012 | 10.3% | +4.5% |
| 2013 | 10.3% | -0.0% |
| 2014 | 10.5% | +1.9% |
| 2015 | 10.8% | +3.3% |
| 2016 | 10.6% | -2.2% |
| 2017 | 10.0% | -5.5% |
| 2018 | 10.2% | +1.6% |
| 2019 | 10.0% | -2.3% |
| 2020 | 10.8% | +8.5% |
| 2021 | 9.9% | -8.2% |
| 2022 | 9.0% | -9.1% |
| 2023 | 9.5% | +5.1% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 5.5% | 3.5% | 7.2% | 10 |
| 1970s | 6.0% | 4.9% | 7.1% | 10 |
| 1980s | 5.7% | 5.1% | 6.9% | 10 |
| 1990s | 9.5% | 7.3% | 11.2% | 10 |
| 2000s | 12.5% | 10.2% | 14.4% | 10 |
| 2010s | 10.2% | 9.7% | 10.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 9.8% | 9.0% | 10.8% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Lower middle income
More private sector data for Lower middle income
- Merchandise trade 35.7% (2025)
- Food imports 9.8% (2024)
- Manufactures imports 51.4% (2024)
- Merchandise imports 1.56 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Food exports 14.8% (2024)
- Manufactures exports 50.0% (2024)
- Merchandise exports 1.06 trillion current US$ (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per capita 358.3 current US$ per person (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), per unit of GDP 0.1444 current US$ per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Merchandise exports (current US$), annual growth rate 5.93 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within in Lower middle income?
- Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within in Lower middle income was 9.5% in 2023, according to Staff estimates, World Bank (WB).
- What is the highest merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within recorded in Lower middle income?
- The highest recorded value was 14.4% in 2001.
- What is the lowest merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within recorded in Lower middle income?
- The lowest recorded value was 3.5% in 1962.
- How does Lower middle income rank for merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within?
- Lower middle income ranks 33rd out of 46 groups with data for 2023.
- Is merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within rising or falling in Lower middle income?
- Over the last ten years it is down 8.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Lower middle income data come from?
- The figures come from Staff estimates, World Bank (WB), published as part of Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within region (% of total merchandise imports). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 64 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies within region are the sum of merchandise imports by the reporting economy from other low- and middle-income economies in the same World Bank region according to the World Bank classification of economies. Data are as a percentage of total merchandise imports by the economy. Data are computed only if at least half of the economies in the partner country group had non-missing data. No figures are shown for high-income economies, because they are a separate category in the World Bank classification of economies.