How food’s share of the import bill changed across West Africa

Benin had the largest share in both comparison years

Benin’s food share declined from 40.20% in 2015 to 33.27% in 2024. The 2024 figure still exceeded Côte d’Ivoire’s by 12.81 percentage points. A larger share means a bigger fraction of the recorded goods import bill, regardless of the country’s absolute import value. Source 1

Nigeria’s share fell while Côte d’Ivoire’s rose

Nigeria moved from 16.95% in 2015 to 11.02% in 2024. Côte d’Ivoire moved from 17.57% to 20.46%. Their difference widened from 0.62 to 9.44 percentage points. The two paths can reflect changes in food imports, other goods imports or both. Source 1

The newer entries do not cover every country

In 2025, the recorded share was 22.71% in Côte d’Ivoire, 13.05% in Ghana and 12.27% in Nigeria. Benin and Senegal stop at 2024 in the extracted series. The main comparison keeps a common year across all five economies. Source 1

The classification is broader than staple foods

The indicator includes food and live animals, beverages and tobacco, animal and vegetable oils and fats, and oilseeds. The denominator is merchandise import value. This ratio cannot measure the imported share of food consumed in a country or tell how many tonnes of particular staples crossed the border. Source 2

Sources

• UN Comtrade and WITS via World Bank, food as a share of merchandise imports
• World Bank metadata, food import classification