Burundi is the poorest country in the world in 2026 when economies are compared by projected GDP per capita at purchasing power parity. The International Monetary Fund estimates Burundi’s 2026 GDP per capita at approximately $1,031 in current international dollars. However, the answer changes with the indicator: Yemen has the lowest projected nominal GDP per capita, at about $384, while South Sudan records the world’s lowest Human Development Index, at 0.388. These figures show why poverty should never be assessed through a single economic statistic.

At a glance:

• Lowest GDP per capita at PPP: Burundi — approximately $1,031 in 2026.
• Lowest nominal GDP per capita: Yemen — approximately $384 in 2026.
• Lowest HDI: South Sudan — 0.388.
• Latest global extreme-poverty estimate: 826 million people as of 2026.
• Current international extreme-poverty line: $3 per person per day in 2021 PPP terms.

GDP figures for 2026 are IMF projections rather than completed national accounts. Poverty, income and human-development indicators generally refer to the latest available survey or reporting year, which varies substantially between countries.

Top 10 Poorest Countries in the World

The table below ranks countries by the IMF’s projected 2026 GDP per capita at purchasing power parity, or PPP. This measure adjusts for differences in local prices and therefore provides a more practical comparison of average domestic purchasing power than market-exchange-rate GDP alone.

The additional columns show why the rankings should be interpreted carefully. Nominal GDP, gross national income, monetary poverty and human development measure related but different aspects of economic hardship.

How to read the table: nominal GDP and PPP GDP are IMF projections for 2026. GNI per capita uses the World Bank Atlas method and the latest reported year. Poverty rates represent the share of the population living below the World Bank’s current international poverty line of $3 a day in 2021 PPP terms. HDI values relate to 2023 and were published in the UNDP’s 2025 Human Development Report.

The years in the poverty column cannot be ignored. Yemen’s 33.3% figure, for example, comes from 2014 and predates much of the country’s prolonged conflict and economic collapse. South Sudan’s latest internationally comparable GNI and poverty observations are also several years old. In fragile and conflict-affected countries, surveys may be delayed because large parts of the population are displaced, inaccessible or living outside established statistical systems. A missing or outdated figure is therefore a data limitation, not evidence of low poverty.

The ten countries also differ significantly from one another. Some are landlocked agricultural economies; others have ports, minerals or oil. Several are affected by active conflict, while others struggle mainly with weak productivity, recurring climate shocks, limited infrastructure or dependence on a narrow range of exports. The ranking identifies low average economic output, but it does not imply that every household in these countries has the same income or living conditions.

What Is the Poorest Country in the World?

Burundi is the clearest answer when “poorest” means the lowest GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power. Its projected PPP GDP per person of about $1,031 in 2026 is lower than that of the Central African Republic, South Sudan and every other economy for which the IMF publishes a comparable estimate.

Burundi’s economic difficulties are structural. The country is landlocked, its domestic market is relatively small, and more than 85% of its labour force is associated with low-productivity or subsistence agriculture. Rapid population growth places additional pressure on land, household incomes, public services and employment creation. These conditions make it difficult for economic output to grow substantially faster than the population.

Nevertheless, three different countries can reasonably be described as the world’s poorest, depending on the question being asked:

Yemen’s nominal result partly reflects the severe economic consequences of conflict, institutional fragmentation, currency instability and reduced productive capacity. The World Bank reports that real GDP per capita fell by approximately 58% between 2015 and the mid-2020s, while millions of residents face food insecurity and inadequate access to safe water and sanitation.

South Sudan ranks last on the Human Development Index rather than on PPP GDP. HDI combines life expectancy, education and income instead of focusing only on output. The country has considerable oil resources and agricultural potential, but conflict, displacement, weak infrastructure and limited public-service capacity have prevented much of that potential from translating into broadly shared human development. World Bank assessments have reported very low literacy, electricity access and paved-road coverage.

The most accurate conclusion is therefore: Burundi is the poorest country by GDP per capita at PPP; Yemen is the poorest by nominal GDP per capita; and South Sudan has the lowest level of human development.

This distinction matters because GDP is an average. A country may have valuable natural resources or a moderately higher GDP per capita while still experiencing widespread deprivation, severe inequality, food insecurity or limited access to schools, healthcare and electricity.

Choosing a country to live in depends not only on its economic development and quality of life, but also on available immigration programs, eligibility requirements, the tax system, opportunities for employment and business, children’s education, and prospects for obtaining permanent residence or citizenship. Leave a request for a consultation, and an immigration lawyer will assess your situation, compare the available options, and help you develop the most suitable relocation strategy.

Learn More About Relocating to Developed Countries

Fill out a short form, and an immigration lawyer will contact you to assess your situation and help you find the most suitable relocation option.

Free Consultation

How the Poorest Countries Are Ranked

There is no universally accepted “poverty ranking.” International institutions select different indicators depending on whether they are studying economic production, income, household consumption, access to services or human development.

Nominal GDP per capita

Nominal GDP per capita divides the value of a country’s annual economic output by its population and converts the result into US dollars using market exchange rates. This indicator is useful for assessing a country’s capacity to purchase imported goods, machinery, medicines, energy and services priced internationally. It is also relevant when comparing the size of economies in current dollars.

Its main weakness is exchange-rate sensitivity. A sharp currency depreciation can reduce nominal GDP per capita in US-dollar terms even if local production changes relatively little. Conversely, an overvalued currency may make a country appear wealthier than its domestic living standards suggest. Using this measure, Yemen has the lowest IMF-projected GDP per capita in 2026, at roughly $384, followed by South Sudan and Burundi among economies with available projections.

GDP per capita at purchasing power parity

GDP per capita at PPP adjusts economic output for differences in national price levels. One “international dollar” is intended to represent a similar quantity of goods and services across economies. PPP is usually more informative when comparing domestic living standards. A household earning $1,000 may be able to buy more food, housing and local services in a low-price country than the same nominal amount would purchase in an expensive economy.

However, PPP GDP remains an economy-wide average. It does not show who receives the income, whether resources are concentrated among a small elite, whether public services function, or whether residents can afford essential imported goods. This article uses PPP GDP per capita as its primary ranking indicator because it offers a relatively consistent comparison of domestic purchasing power. Under that methodology, Burundi ranks first among the poorest countries in 2026.

GNI per capita

Gross national income per capita measures income received by a country’s residents, including relevant net income from abroad. The World Bank’s Atlas method smooths exchange-rate fluctuations and is used, among other purposes, in the classification of economies by income group. GNI may differ from GDP in countries where foreign-owned companies generate a large share of production, residents receive substantial remittances, or cross-border investment income is important.

Burundi’s latest GNI per capita is $240, the lowest reported World Bank value for 2025. The Central African Republic and Madagascar are each at approximately $560, Mozambique at $570 and Malawi at $600. GNI is not the same as household earnings. It includes income generated across the economy and cannot reveal how evenly that income is distributed.

Poverty rate

The poverty rate estimates the share of people living below a specified income or consumption threshold. For international comparisons, the World Bank now uses $3 per person per day in 2021 PPP prices as the extreme-poverty line for low-income economies. The line was updated in June 2025 from $2.15 in 2017 PPP prices. The change incorporates newer purchasing-power estimates and updated national poverty lines; it does not mean that the actual cost of survival suddenly rose by 40% in one year. Historical estimates are recalculated to maintain comparability.

Poverty rates are generally derived from household income or consumption surveys. They measure household conditions more directly than GDP, but comparison is complicated when survey years, methods and geographic coverage differ. Among the ten countries in the table, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has the highest listed survey-based rate, at 85.3%, followed by Mozambique at 81.4%. These observations refer to 2020 and 2022 respectively and should not be treated as synchronized 2026 estimates.

National poverty lines provide another perspective. Each government may define poverty according to domestic prices and minimum living requirements. National rates can be valuable for policymaking within a country, but they should not be used to rank countries without adjusting for methodological differences.

Multidimensional Poverty Index

The Multidimensional Poverty Index, or MPI, examines simultaneous deprivations in health, education and living standards. Its indicators include matters such as nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing and basic assets.

A household is classified as multidimensionally poor when its weighted deprivation score reaches at least one-third of the index. The 2025 Global MPI estimates that 1.1 billion people, or 18.3% of the population covered by the study, live in multidimensional poverty.

MPI is especially useful where low cash income coincides with poor infrastructure and inadequate public services. It can also reveal major regional differences inside one country that national GDP averages conceal.

Human Development Index

The Human Development Index provides broader context by combining life expectancy, education and income into a score between zero and one. It is not a poverty rate, but it helps distinguish countries with similar incomes but different health and educational outcomes.

South Sudan’s HDI of 0.388 is the lowest among the 193 countries and territories in the UNDP’s latest country dataset. Somalia, the Central African Republic and Burundi also fall near the bottom.

Contact us

Find out how to obtain citizenship faster

Contact us

Why Are the Poorest Countries Poor?

Countries do not become poor for one reason, and poverty cannot be explained by culture, geography or individual behaviour alone. In the lowest-income economies, several disadvantages often reinforce one another.

1. Conflict and political instability destroy productive assets, interrupt trade, displace workers, reduce school attendance and divert public money from healthcare and infrastructure. Businesses avoid long-term investment when property rights, transport routes or access to customers are uncertain. South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia and the Central African Republic illustrate how repeated conflict can prevent natural resources and agricultural potential from producing widely shared prosperity. The World Bank estimated that around two-thirds of South Sudan’s population would require humanitarian assistance in 2026.
2. Low agricultural productivity is another central constraint. In countries where most households depend on small-scale farming, weak irrigation, limited access to improved seeds, poor roads, land fragmentation and lack of finance can keep output per worker very low. A drought, flood or plant disease can then affect both national growth and household food security. Burundi and Malawi are prominent examples of economies where agricultural vulnerability has economy-wide consequences.
3. Insufficient infrastructure raises the cost of nearly every productive activity. Unreliable electricity makes manufacturing difficult; poor roads increase food losses and transport expenses; limited internet access restricts participation in digital services; and inadequate water and sanitation contribute to disease and missed school or work.
4. Weak human capital reduces productivity across generations. Malnutrition can affect childhood development, while limited schooling and healthcare narrow the range of work available to adults. Governments with very small tax bases may be unable to finance universal education, hospitals or social protection without external assistance.
5. Commodity dependence exposes economies to volatile global prices. When government revenue and export earnings rely heavily on oil, minerals or one or two agricultural products, a price decline can weaken the currency, reduce imports and force spending cuts. UN Trade and Development reports that 94 of 143 developing economies were commodity-dependent between 2022 and 2024, including about 80% of least developed and landlocked developing countries.
6. Debt and limited fiscal capacity can restrict development spending. Governments may collect relatively little tax revenue because formal employment and registered business activity are limited. At the same time, high debt-service obligations reduce the funds available for schools, clinics, infrastructure and climate adaptation. IMF analysis notes that elevated debt service is constraining priority spending in many low-income countries.
7. Climate and environmental shocks affect low-income countries disproportionately because households often depend on rain-fed agriculture and have limited savings or insurance. The 2025 Global MPI found that 887 million of the world’s 1.1 billion multidimensionally poor people were exposed to at least one major climate hazard covered by the study.
8. Geographic constraints also matter, although they are not destiny. Landlocked countries face higher transport costs, while small markets may struggle to attract industries that depend on economies of scale. Tropical disease burdens, water scarcity and exposure to cyclones can create additional costs. Effective institutions, regional trade and investment in transport can reduce these disadvantages.
9. Rapid population growth without corresponding job creation can limit gains in income per person. An economy may grow in total while GDP per capita stagnates because output is not increasing faster than the population. A large young population can become a major economic advantage, but only when education, health systems and labour markets expand sufficiently.

The poorest countries usually face several of these constraints at once. For example, Mozambique has significant natural resources and access to the sea, yet its development has been interrupted by debt problems, cyclones, insurgency, weak job creation and dependence on capital-intensive extractive projects. Resource wealth by itself therefore does not guarantee high household incomes.

Poorest Countries by Region

Low-income economies are concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa, but poverty exists in every major developing region. The following comparison identifies the economy with the lowest projected 2026 PPP GDP per capita in each region among countries covered by the IMF database.

These regional results should not be interpreted as poverty-rate rankings. Moldova’s PPP output, for instance, is far above the levels of the ten countries in the global table, even though it is the lowest IMF estimate in Europe. Similarly, the Solomon Islands faces development constraints associated with geographic dispersion and remoteness, but its poverty profile differs from that of a conflict-affected state.

Africa

Nine of the ten lowest-ranked economies by projected PPP GDP per capita are in Africa. The continent’s concentration at the bottom reflects the combined effects of conflict, infrastructure gaps, low agricultural productivity, commodity dependence, debt pressures and relatively rapid population growth in several countries.

It would nevertheless be misleading to treat Africa as economically uniform. The region includes diversified middle-income economies, fast-growing service sectors, major cities, advanced financial markets and countries with much stronger health and education outcomes. The relevant concentration is primarily in fragile, conflict-affected and structurally constrained economies, not across the entire continent.

Asia and the Middle East

Yemen has the region’s lowest estimated income per person. Its present position is closely connected to prolonged conflict, fragmented economic institutions, reduced oil exports, currency pressures and damaged infrastructure.

Afghanistan also faces widespread poverty and severe economic constraints, but complete 2026 IMF figures are not available in the same dataset. Excluding countries with missing data is one reason that all international rankings should state their source and coverage.

The Americas

Haiti has the lowest projected PPP GDP per capita in the Americas. Political instability, insecurity, natural disasters, limited state capacity and infrastructure shortages have repeatedly disrupted economic activity.

Yet absolute poverty also affects millions of people in larger middle-income countries. A country can have a much higher average GDP per capita than Haiti while still containing a larger total number of people living below a poverty threshold because of its population size and inequality.

Oceania

The Solomon Islands has the lowest IMF-projected PPP GDP per capita in Oceania. Small island developing economies often face high transport costs, narrow domestic markets, dependence on imports and exposure to cyclones, sea-level rise and other climate hazards.

Europe

Moldova has Europe’s lowest projected PPP GDP per capita in the IMF comparison, but its figure is approximately ten times that of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This illustrates why the label “poorest in a region” does not necessarily mean extreme poverty by global standards.

How the Ranking Has Changed — and Whether Countries Can Escape Poverty

The identities of the world’s lowest-income countries change slowly, but their exact positions can shift from year to year.

In the IMF’s estimates, Burundi remained at the bottom of the PPP ranking between 2024 and 2026. The Central African Republic moved ahead of South Sudan because South Sudan’s measured PPP output recovered from an exceptionally low level, although projections for conflict-affected economies are subject to substantial uncertainty. Liberia, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo also changed places near the lower end of the table.

Such movements do not always mean that household living standards improved or deteriorated at the same pace. Rankings can change because of:

• revisions to national accounts or population estimates;
• inflation and new purchasing-power calculations;
• exchange-rate changes;
• commodity-price movements;
• conflict-related disruption;
• temporary recovery after drought, disaster or recession;
• missing or newly available data.

Long-term global progress has been much more substantial than annual ranking changes suggest. The World Bank estimates that the number of people living in extreme poverty declined from roughly 2.3 billion in 1990 to around 831 million in 2025. Much of the historical reduction was driven by broad-based growth in East and South Asia.

Progress has become slower and more geographically concentrated. World Bank analysis indicates that extreme poverty is increasingly found in Sub-Saharan Africa and fragile or conflict-affected economies, and that nearly three-quarters of people in extreme poverty live in rural areas. One-quarter of developing economies remained poorer per person than they were in 2019, according to the World Bank’s January 2026 assessment.

Can countries escape extreme poverty?

Yes. Low income is not a permanent national characteristic. Countries can move from widespread poverty to sustained middle-income development, but GDP growth must be durable, sufficiently rapid and broadly shared.

The most effective strategies generally combine several elements:

1. Peace, security and credible institutions are fundamental. Schools, markets, farms and businesses cannot operate consistently during recurring violence. Stable legal institutions also make long-term domestic and foreign investment more likely.
2. Higher productivity and better jobs allow households to move beyond subsistence activities. This often requires better roads, reliable electricity, access to finance, digital connectivity, secure land rights and simpler conditions for starting and expanding formal businesses.
3. Economic diversification reduces dependence on one commodity or industry. Processing agricultural products domestically, developing regional supply chains and expanding competitive services can retain more value inside the economy.
4. Human-capital investment raises long-term productivity. Early-childhood nutrition, primary healthcare, girls’ education, vocational training and access to clean water can produce benefits far beyond their immediate social effects.
5. Macroeconomic stability and manageable debt protect real incomes. High inflation and currency instability hit poor households especially hard because food, transport and energy consume a large share of their budgets.
6. Targeted social protection can prevent temporary shocks from causing permanent harm. Cash transfers, school meals, public works and insurance mechanisms can help families avoid selling productive assets, withdrawing children from school or reducing essential food consumption.
7. Climate-resilient development is increasingly indispensable. Irrigation, drought-resistant crops, early-warning systems, stronger buildings and disaster-responsive financing can reduce the impact of weather shocks on both national budgets and household poverty.

The World Bank’s 2026 outlook warns that current per-capita growth in low-income economies is unlikely to be sufficient for rapid poverty reduction. It emphasizes investment in physical, human and digital capital, stronger business conditions and greater private-sector participation. The central lesson is that economic growth is necessary, but its poverty-reducing effect depends on job creation, public services, institutional quality and who benefits from rising productivity.

The 2026 ranking should therefore be understood as a current statistical snapshot, not a permanent judgment about any country or its people. Burundi has the lowest projected purchasing-power-adjusted output, but GDP alone cannot describe the full reality of poverty. Monetary poverty, health, education, infrastructure, security and household resilience must all be considered before meaningful comparisons or policy conclusions are made.

Considering moving abroad? Relocating to a country with a high standard of living requires choosing not only the right destination but also the appropriate legal basis for residence. Leave a request for a consultation to receive a personalized assessment of your situation. An immigration lawyer will explain the available options, requirements, and application steps, and help you choose the most suitable path to temporary residence, permanent residence, or citizenship.

Check Your Eligibility for a Second Passport Through a Simplified Procedure

Fill out a short form, and a specialist will contact you to discuss your goals and the immigration options available to you.

Free Consultation

Frequently Asked Questions About the Poorest Countries in the World

We’ve compiled answers to the most common questions about the world’s poorest countries. If you haven’t found the information you’re looking for, contact us for a free consultation.

What is the poorest country in the world in 2026?

Burundi is the poorest country when economies are ranked by the IMF’s projected 2026 GDP per capita at purchasing power parity. Its estimated PPP GDP per person is approximately $1,031. Yemen ranks lowest by nominal GDP per capita, while South Sudan has the lowest Human Development Index.

Which country has the lowest GDP per capita?

The answer depends on the GDP measure:

• Nominal GDP per capita: Yemen, approximately $384 in 2026.
• GDP per capita at PPP: Burundi, approximately $1,031 in 2026.

Nominal GDP uses market exchange rates, while PPP adjusts for differences in domestic prices.

How are the poorest countries determined?

Countries can be compared using GDP per capita, PPP GDP, GNI per capita, household poverty rates, the Multidimensional Poverty Index or the Human Development Index. A reliable assessment normally considers several indicators because no single statistic captures income distribution, public services, health, education and living conditions simultaneously.

Why are some countries poorer than others?

Common causes include conflict, weak institutions, low productivity, infrastructure gaps, limited access to education and healthcare, commodity dependence, high debt, climate shocks, geographic isolation and insufficient creation of productive jobs. These factors frequently reinforce each other rather than acting independently.

What causes poverty in developing countries?

At household level, poverty may result from low or unstable earnings, unemployment, illness, disability, displacement, inadequate education, discrimination, crop losses or lack of productive assets. At national level, these risks are shaped by institutions, infrastructure, economic structure, conflict, public finances and exposure to external or environmental shocks.

How many people live in extreme poverty?

The World Bank’s March 2026 update estimates that 847 million people, or approximately 10.4% of the global population, lived below the $3-a-day international poverty line in 2024. The corresponding rate is projected to decline to about 10.0% in 2026, but the 2026 figure is a nowcast rather than a completed global household-survey count.

Is Africa the poorest continent?

Sub-Saharan Africa contains most of the countries with the lowest GDP per capita and an increasing share of the world’s people in extreme poverty. However, continent-wide labels conceal major differences in income, economic structure, institutions and human development. Poverty is concentrated much more heavily in certain fragile, rural and conflict-affected areas than uniformly across Africa.

Can a poor country become rich?

Yes, but the transition normally takes decades of sustained productivity growth, investment and institutional development. Improvements in education, health, infrastructure, trade capacity, governance and economic diversification can raise incomes and reduce poverty. Growth is most effective when it creates productive employment and finances accessible public services rather than remaining concentrated in a narrow sector.