The Briefing
- Global GDP per capita continues to grow every year, and is projected to sit at $13,920 for 2023 (current prices)
- There are as many as 123 countries whose per capita GDP is below the global average
- Burundi is the poorest country in the world with a per capita GDP of about $308
Ranked: Which Are the World’s Poorest Countries?
There are different ways to measure economic activity and wealth of a country, and for this article on the world’s least-wealthy nations, we’ve used GDP per capita projections for this year from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Nominal world GDP per capita is expected to go from $13,400 in 2022 to $13,920 in 2023, but in contrast to the rest of the world, per capita economic output in Africa is much lower than in continents such as North America or Europe.
GDP per capita is a measure of the total economic output of a country (GDP) divided by the total population of the country.Here are the countries with the lowest per capita GDP, all below the global average.
| Country | GDP per capita (USD) |
|---|---|
| Burundi | $308 |
| Sierra Leone | $472 |
| Malawi | $483 |
| Central African Republic | $516 |
| Madagascar | $540 |
| Somalia | $562 |
| South Sudan | $570 |
| Niger | $574 |
| Mozambique | $579 |
| Eritrea | $700 |
| Congo | $704 |
| Chad | $755 |
| Liberia | $770 |
| Burkina Faso | $832 |
| Yemen | $872 |
| Guinea-Bissau | $874 |
| Mali | $877 |
| Gambia, The | $883 |
| Sudan | $930 |
| Rwanda | $968 |
| Togo | $1,008 |
| Tajikistan | $1,050 |
| Uganda | $1,164 |
| Myanmar | $1,173 |
| Lesotho | $1,209 |
| Ethiopia | $1,227 |
| Comoros | $1,303 |
| Tanzania | $1,341 |
| Nepal | $1,372 |
| Benin | (Read more...) |