World's Poorest Countries

Lowest GNP Nations Highlight African Poverty

© Daniel Workman

Oct 22, 2006

GNP per capita is the most widely accepted index for a country's financial success or failure. Also referred to as Gross National Income, this much publicized statistic represents the total amount of money that a country's consumers spend on all goods and services in a year, divided by that country's population.

GNP per capita only counts consumption that can be measured in money. Therefore GNP statistics cannot capture the true quality of life in a country, nor do they necessarily define the worst nations in the world. GNP per capita does tell a general story about a country's overall poverty or wealth - one that should be taken with a grain of salt and without stereotyping the living standard for all citizens.

Based on World Bank Development Indicators published in July 2006, here are the 10 poorest countries in the world. GNP per capita for each country is shown in US dollars.

Ten Poorest Countries (based on 2004 GNP per capita in US$)

1. Burundi ... $90
2. Ethiopia ... $110
3. Democratic Republic of Congo ... $110
4. Liberia ... $110
5. Malawi ... $160
6. Guinea-Bissau ... $160
7. Eritrea ... $190
8. Niger ... $210
9. Sierra Leone ... $210
10. Rwanda ... $210

Burundi's low GNP per capita is due in part to deadly battles among Tutsi (14% of population, Hutu (85%), other conflicting ethnic groups, associated political rebels, armed gangs and government forces. Fighting continues in Africa's Great Lakes region, transcending the boundaries of Burundi, neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, as well as Uganda. Ethnic hostilities erupt despite the presence of about 6,000 UN peacekeepers in Burundi since 2004.

Burundi's economy is 94% agricultural. Farm products include coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk and hides. Services comprise 4% of Burundi's economy, while industry comes in just over 2% and is principally limited to light consumer goods (i.e., blankets, shoes, soap), assembly of imported components, public works construction and food processing

In 2005, Burundi's trade deficit totalled some $150 million, with $52 million of Burundian exports (coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides) overshadowed by $200 million that the east-central African country paid for imports (capital goods, petroleum products, foodstuffs). Burundi's major trade partners are Germany, Belgium, Pakistan, America, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, France, Italy, Uganda and Japan.

Burundi has very limited and poorly maintained transportation systems, another major weakness from a global trade perspective. Without any railways at all, only 7% of Burundi's roads are paved which restricts and severely the flow of products to the primary port at Bujumbura and some 8 airports.

And The Winners Are...

Another measure of a nation's wealth is the GNP per capita based on global purchasing power parity (PPP). GNP per capita based on PPP represents the statistic converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates. An international dollar has the same purchasing power in a given country as a U.S. dollar has in the United States.

Based on PPP, Burundi's GNP per person in terms of global purchasing power improves over 7-fold from $90 to $660.

Ten Poorest Countries (based on 2004 PPP GNP per capita in international$)

1. Sierra Leone ... $550
2. Malawi ... $630
3. Burundi ... $660
4. Tanzania ... $670
5. Democratic Republic of Congo ... $680
6. Guinea-Bissau ... $690
7. Republic of Congo ... $740
8. Ethiopia ... $750
9. Niger ... $780
10. Republic of Yemen ... $810

The poorest PPP country is Sierra Leone, a west African nation about half the size of Illinois that has been marred by violent civil wars, sexual slavery, torture including disfigurement and amputation, conscripting child soldiers - and even cannibalism.

The United Nations names Sierra Leone as the world's “least livable” country, based on its poverty and the poor quality of life that its citizens must endure.

Sierra Leone's farm products include rice, coffee, cocoa, palm kernels, palm oil, peanuts, poultry, cattle, sheep and pigs. Sierra Leone also has fisheries. Other industries include diamond mining, small-scale manufacturing (beverages, textiles, cigarettes, footwear), petroleum refining and small commercial ship repair.

In 2004, Sierra Leone's trade deficit totalled some $350 million, with $185 million of exports (diamonds, rutile, cocoa, coffee, fish) easily surpassed by $531 million that Sierra Leone paid for imports (foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, fuels and lubricants, chemicals). Burundi's major trade partners are Belgium, Germany, U.S., UK, Côte d'Ivoire, China, Netherlands, South Africa and France.

Sierra Leone's transportation systems are marginally superior to those in Burundi, mainly due to diamond mining. The western African nation has 84 kilometers of railroad, used on a limited basis after the diamond mine at Marampa was closed in 2001. Almost 8% of Sierra Leone's roads are paved which restricts and severely the flow of products to ports at Bonthe, Freetown and Pepel as well as 10 airports.

So Sierra Leone assumes the dubious honour of world's most miserable country to live in.

We can get some perspective on the economic misery by comparing Sierra Leone's PPP GNP per capita with that of the world's richest countries. Sierra Leone's GNP per capita of $550 is 112 times less than Luxembourg's and 72 times less than what Americans enjoy.

Sources for this ArticleWorld Bank Development Indicators for 2006 Table 1.1 - Size of the Economy and Table 1.6 - Key indicators for other economies, www.infoplease.com

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