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Djibouti · Economy

Djibouti economy: GDP, investment, trade and remittances

How large the Djibouti economy is and how fast it is growing, who invests in it, what it sells and buys, how much its citizens abroad send home, who it owes and what it holds in reserve. The latest published year is shown with each figure.

GDP
US$4.6 billion
current US$, 2025
Real GDP growth
6.5%
2025
GDP per person
US$3,906
current US$, 2025
Exports of goods
US$4.8 billion
2023
Remittances received
US$56 million
2024, 1.3% of GDP
Foreign direct investment, net inflows
US$149 million
2025, 3.2% of GDP

Djibouti economy snapshot: GDP, growth and income per person

Djibouti's GDP was US$4.6 billion in 2025, after real growth of 6.5%.

GDP

Current US dollars.

02.0bn4.0bn6.0bn201520172019202120232025GDP 2015: US$2.4 billionGDP 2016: US$2.6 billionGDP 2017: US$2.8 billionGDP 2018: US$2.9 billionGDP 2019: US$3.1 billionGDP 2020: US$3.1 billionGDP 2021: US$3.4 billionGDP 2022: US$3.6 billionGDP 2023: US$3.9 billionGDP 2024: US$4.2 billionGDP 2025: US$4.6 billion

Real GDP growth

Annual change, per cent. Red bars are contractions.

0%2%4%6%8%201520172019202120232025Real GDP growth 2015: 7.3%Real GDP growth 2016: 7.1%Real GDP growth 2017: 5.5%Real GDP growth 2018: 4.8%Real GDP growth 2019: 5.5%Real GDP growth 2020: 1.2%Real GDP growth 2021: 4.4%Real GDP growth 2022: 5.2%Real GDP growth 2023: 6.8%Real GDP growth 2024: 7.0%Real GDP growth 2025: 6.5%

GDP per person

Current US dollars.

01k2k3k4k201520172019202120232025GDP per person 2015: US$2,376GDP per person 2016: US$2,510GDP per person 2017: US$2,619GDP per person 2018: US$2,718GDP per person 2019: US$2,837GDP per person 2020: US$2,845GDP per person 2021: US$3,026GDP per person 2022: US$3,133GDP per person 2023: US$3,381GDP per person 2024: US$3,553GDP per person 2025: US$3,906

Source: World Bank, 2025. Method

Who invests in Djibouti and in what

Direct investment by investing country

Mauritius was the largest investing country in Djibouti, at 43% of inward direct investment positions in 2024.

Inward direct investment positions in Djibouti at the end of 2024: the stock of foreign direct investment, not a year's new flow. The 10 largest investing countries.

The IMF data holds no positions reported by Djibouti itself. The figures are derived by the IMF from what the investing countries report, so they are shown as reported by investing countries.

MauritiusUS$124 million42.9%
ChinaUS$94 million32.7%
FranceUS$58 million20.2%
United KingdomUS$5.0 million1.7%
DenmarkUS$2.7 million0.9%
NetherlandsUS$2.1 million0.7%
ItalyUS$1.6 million0.6%
Burkina FasoUS$552 thousand0.2%
IndiaUS$140 thousand0.0%
AzerbaijanUS$70 thousand0.0%

Source: IMF, 2024. Method

What Djibouti sells and buys

Fats and oils was 21% of exports in 2023.

Djibouti sold the most to Ethiopia, 83% of exports in 2023.

Exports by product, 2023

Tile area follows value. Each tile is a customs chapter of the Harmonized System; hover for the full name.

Animal or vegetable fats and oils and their cleavage products: US$1.0 billion, 21.2%Fats and oils21%Vehicles: US$801 million, 16.7%Vehicles17%Iron and steel: US$614 million, 12.8%Iron and steel13%Sugars and sugar confectionery: US$403 million, 8.4%Sugars8%Plastics and articles thereof: US$302 million, 6.3%Plastics6%Cereals: US$268 million, 5.6%Cereals6%Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof: US$212 million, 4.4%Electrical ma…4%Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances: US$131 million, 2.7%Inorganic chemicals: US$120 million, 2.5%Vegetables and certain roots and tubers: US$104 million, 2.2%Rubber and articles thereof: US$88 million, 1.8%Products of the milling industry: US$54 million, 1.1%All other chapters: US$674 million, 14.1%All other chapters14%

Source: UN Comtrade, 2023. Method

Top buyers, 2023

Share of Djibouti's exports.

EthiopiaUS$4.0 billion83.5%
United Arab EmiratesUS$222 million4.6%
ChinaUS$116 million2.4%
FranceUS$84 million1.8%
United StatesUS$76 million1.6%
YemenUS$66 million1.4%
SomaliaUS$54 million1.1%
OmanUS$38 million0.8%
TurkeyUS$31 million0.7%
CanadaUS$22 million0.5%

Top suppliers, 2023

Share of Djibouti's imports.

ChinaUS$936 million17.7%
IndiaUS$767 million14.5%
United Arab EmiratesUS$606 million11.4%
TurkeyUS$491 million9.3%
Saudi ArabiaUS$452 million8.5%
IndonesiaUS$294 million5.5%
MalaysiaUS$224 million4.2%
JapanUS$217 million4.1%
OmanUS$216 million4.1%
SingaporeUS$143 million2.7%

Source: UN Comtrade, 2023. Method

What Djibouti buys, 2023

The 8 largest product chapters in imports.

Fats and oilsUS$856 million16.2%
VehiclesUS$777 million14.7%
Iron and steelUS$567 million10.7%
SugarsUS$434 million8.2%
Mineral fuels and oilsUS$419 million7.9%
CerealsUS$308 million5.8%
PlasticsUS$299 million5.6%
Machinery and mechanical appliancesUS$187 million3.5%

Source: UN Comtrade, 2023. Method

Trade balance of goods

Exports minus imports. Red bars are years when imports were larger. A year is left out when either side is not published.

-600m-400m-200m0202120222023Trade balance 2021: -US$143 million (exports US$3.8 billion, imports US$4.0 billion)Trade balance 2022: -US$483 million (exports US$4.6 billion, imports US$5.1 billion)Trade balance 2023: -US$510 million (exports US$4.8 billion, imports US$5.3 billion)

Source: UN Comtrade, 2023. Method

Remittances against foreign direct investment in Djibouti

Foreign direct investment in Djibouti was 1.2 times remittances in 2024.

Remittances receivedForeign direct investment, net inflows
050m100m150m200m201520172019202120232025Remittances 2015: US$40 millionRemittances 2016: US$40 millionRemittances 2017: US$41 millionRemittances 2018: US$60 millionRemittances 2019: US$79 millionRemittances 2020: US$64 millionRemittances 2021: US$79 millionRemittances 2022: US$57 millionRemittances 2023: US$59 millionRemittances 2024: US$56 millionForeign direct investment 2015: US$144 millionForeign direct investment 2016: US$160 millionForeign direct investment 2017: US$165 millionForeign direct investment 2018: US$170 millionForeign direct investment 2019: US$175 millionForeign direct investment 2020: US$158 millionForeign direct investment 2021: US$167 millionForeign direct investment 2022: US$187 millionForeign direct investment 2023: US$137 millionForeign direct investment 2024: US$68 millionForeign direct investment 2025: US$149 million

Source: World Bank, 2026. Method

Remittances and investment as a share of GDP

The same two flows measured against the size of the economy.

Remittances, share of GDPForeign direct investment, share of GDP
0%2%4%6%8%201520172019202120232025Remittances 2015: 1.6%Remittances 2016: 1.5%Remittances 2017: 1.5%Remittances 2018: 2.1%Remittances 2019: 2.6%Remittances 2020: 2.0%Remittances 2021: 2.3%Remittances 2022: 1.6%Remittances 2023: 1.5%Remittances 2024: 1.3%Foreign direct investment 2015: 5.9%Foreign direct investment 2016: 6.1%Foreign direct investment 2017: 6.0%Foreign direct investment 2018: 5.8%Foreign direct investment 2019: 5.7%Foreign direct investment 2020: 5.0%Foreign direct investment 2021: 4.9%Foreign direct investment 2022: 5.2%Foreign direct investment 2023: 3.5%Foreign direct investment 2024: 1.6%Foreign direct investment 2025: 3.2%

Source: World Bank, 2026. Method

Who Djibouti owes

External debt stock by type of creditor. Creditor types cover public and publicly guaranteed debt; the grey part is the rest of the total external debt stock. A creditor type with no published figure is not shown.

Bilateral creditors held 54% of Djibouti's external debt stock in 2024.

Public external debt owed to China was US$1.4 billion in 2024, 41% of the external debt stock.

MultilateralBilateralCommercial banksRest of the totalPublic debt owed to China
01.0bn2.0bn3.0bn4.0bn20152017201920212023Multilateral 2015: US$452 millionBilateral 2015: US$722 millionRest of the total 2015: US$54 millionMultilateral 2016: US$485 millionBilateral 2016: US$1.1 billionRest of the total 2016: US$100 millionMultilateral 2017: US$519 millionBilateral 2017: US$1.4 billionRest of the total 2017: US$322 millionMultilateral 2018: US$551 millionBilateral 2018: US$1.5 billionRest of the total 2018: US$276 millionMultilateral 2019: US$611 millionBilateral 2019: US$1.5 billionRest of the total 2019: US$407 millionMultilateral 2020: US$660 millionBilateral 2020: US$1.7 billionRest of the total 2020: US$547 millionMultilateral 2021: US$692 millionBilateral 2021: US$1.7 billionRest of the total 2021: US$800 millionMultilateral 2022: US$708 millionBilateral 2022: US$1.7 billionRest of the total 2022: US$761 millionMultilateral 2023: US$898 millionBilateral 2023: US$1.9 billionRest of the total 2023: US$592 millionMultilateral 2024: US$917 millionBilateral 2024: US$1.9 billionRest of the total 2024: US$662 millionPublic debt owed to China 2015: US$518 millionPublic debt owed to China 2016: US$887 millionPublic debt owed to China 2017: US$1.2 billionPublic debt owed to China 2018: US$1.2 billionPublic debt owed to China 2019: US$1.2 billionPublic debt owed to China 2020: US$1.3 billionPublic debt owed to China 2021: US$1.3 billionPublic debt owed to China 2022: US$1.3 billionPublic debt owed to China 2023: US$1.5 billionPublic debt owed to China 2024: US$1.4 billion

Source: World Bank, 2026. Method

Reserves and months of import cover

Total reserves including gold, and how many months of imports they cover.

Reserves, US$Months of imports
0200m400m600m800m0123201520172019202120232025Reserves 2015: US$365 millionReserves 2016: US$407 millionReserves 2017: US$556 millionReserves 2018: US$454 millionReserves 2019: US$502 millionReserves 2020: US$686 millionReserves 2021: US$588 millionReserves 2022: US$589 millionReserves 2023: US$502 millionReserves 2024: US$349 millionReserves 2025: US$656 millionMonths of imports 2015: 1.4 monthsMonths of imports 2016: 1.6 monthsMonths of imports 2017: 1.5 monthsMonths of imports 2018: 1.2 monthsMonths of imports 2019: 1.2 monthsMonths of imports 2020: 2.3 monthsMonths of imports 2021: 1.3 monthsMonths of imports 2022: 1.3 monthsMonths of imports 2023: 1.1 monthsMonths of imports 2024: 0.9 months

Source: World Bank, 2026. Method

Aid received by Djibouti

Net official development assistance and official aid received.

0100m200m300m20152017201920212023Aid received 2015: US$173 millionAid received 2016: US$185 millionAid received 2017: US$143 millionAid received 2018: US$179 millionAid received 2019: US$264 millionAid received 2020: US$261 millionAid received 2021: US$178 millionAid received 2022: US$61 millionAid received 2023: US$222 million

Source: World Bank, 2026. Method