Countries by Insurance and financial services (% of service imports, BoP)
Luxembourg ranks first globally, with insurance and financial services accounting for nearly 51.0% of its total service imports, the highest share among 191 countries measured. At the other end, Mauritania records just 0.04%. The gap of roughly 51 percentage points reflects wide differences in how heavily countries rely on cross-border insurance and financial intermediation within their service import structures.
Ranking 2024
Values shown in %.
Analysis
This metric measures insurance and financial services as a share of total service imports, expressed as a percentage. According to the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator code BM.GSR.INSF.ZS), it covers various types of insurance provided to nonresidents by resident insurance enterprises and vice versa, and financial intermediary and auxiliary services (except those of insurance enterprises and pension funds) exchanged between residents and nonresidents. The unit is percent of service imports, meaning a higher value indicates that a larger portion of what a country imports in services falls into the insurance and financial category. The dataset covers 191 countries, with 184 of 191 (96.3%) having data from the last seven years. All data points are classified as official quality. The viability checks identified 35 extreme outliers beyond three standard deviations, and the range spans from 0.04% to 51.00%, a spread of over 137,000%.
Luxembourg leads all 191 countries at 51.0%, a value well above the second-ranked Bahrain at 35.0% and the third-ranked Cayman Islands at 29.9%. Libya ranks fourth at 25.6% and Macao SAR, China ranks fifth at 23.6%. Further down the top ten, Iraq (rank 8, 19.1%), Panama (rank 9, 19.0%), and the United States (rank 10, 18.9%) all record shares above 18%. Bermuda ranks 11th at 17.6%. These elevated shares indicate that, within the structure of each country's service imports, cross-border insurance and financial transactions constitute a disproportionately large segment relative to other service categories.
The middle of the ranking shows considerable variation. France ranks 50th at 10.0%, the United Kingdom ranks 55th at 9.4%, and Germany ranks 75th at 7.4%. Notably, Congo, Dem. Rep. ranks 6th at 21.3% and Gambia, The ranks 7th at 19.8%, placements that sit alongside large financial centers and major economies. At the lower end, Denmark ranks 180th at 1.6%, Australia ranks 160th at 2.6%, and Sweden ranks 162nd at 2.6%. Marshall Islands ranks 190th at 0.26%, and Mauritania ranks last at 0.04%. China ranks 151st at 3.0% and India ranks 131st at 3.8%, reflecting relatively low shares of insurance and financial service imports despite their large overall economies.
Several data limitations apply to this metric. First, 35 extreme outliers were flagged beyond three standard deviations, suggesting reporting inconsistencies or structural anomalies in some economies. Second, only 149 of 191 countries (78.0%) have data from the latest reference year of 2024, meaning many country values are drawn from prior years and may not reflect current conditions. Third, because the metric is expressed as a share of total service imports rather than an absolute value, a low share of other service categories can inflate the insurance and financial services percentage without any actual increase in financial service imports. This makes cross-country comparisons sensitive to the composition of each country's overall service import basket. Small or narrow economies with limited service import diversity may appear artificially elevated or depressed.
Methodology
Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code BM.GSR.INSF.ZS. The metric is defined as follows: insurance and financial services cover various types of insurance provided to nonresidents by resident insurance enterprises and vice versa, and financial intermediary and auxiliary services (except those of insurance enterprises and pension funds) exchanged between residents and nonresidents. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of service imports which are services provided by non-residents. The data year is 2024. Country coverage: 191 countries. Of these, 184 (96.3%) have data from the last seven years, and 149 (78.0%) have data from the latest year. All data points are officially classified. Viability checks identified 35 extreme outliers beyond three standard deviations. The value range spans 0.04% to 51.00%, representing a spread of approximately 137,771%. Higher values indicate a greater share of insurance and financial services within total service imports.