South Africa
Imports of goods and services (% of GDP)

Imports of goods includes change in the economic ownership of goods from non-residents to residents of the compiling economy, irrespective of physical movement of goods across national borders. Imports of services includes services provided by non-residents to residents. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.

Global rank#99out of 138 countries
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Historical trend

33.729.124.520.015.4196019932025South Africa · 2025: 29.50%South Africa

Analytical takeaways

  • South Africa records 29.50% for Imports of goods and services (% of GDP) in 2025, ranking #99 globally out of 138 countries.
  • Imports of goods and services (% of GDP) increased from 21.27% in 1960 to 29.50% in 2025, a gain of 8.23%.
  • The country sits in the middle of the global distribution for this metric, making the page a balanced entry point for comparative analysis beyond the extremes.

Comparison

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