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The world’s poorest countries in 2025 — by GDP per capita (PPP)
When you talk about the “poorest” countries in the world you need to be clear which yardstick you’re using. Economists usually report GDP per capita in two ways: nominal (current U.S. dollars, not adjusted for cost of living) and PPP (purchasing-power-parity, which adjusts for local prices and is generally better for comparing living standards). Many recent rankings of the poorest countries use GDP per capita (PPP) because it gives a clearer picture of how far incomes actually go inside a country.
Below is a snapshot of the countries with the lowest GDP per capita (PPP) in 2025 and the structural reasons behind their persistent poverty.
The list (poorest countries by GDP per capita — 2025, PPP)
Based on recent economic tables and compilers that use IMF/World Bank data and PPP adjustments, the countries with the lowest GDP per capita (PPP) in 2025 include (ranked approximately from lowest upward): South Sudan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Yemen, Mozambique, Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Liberia, Madagascar. These names routinely appear at the bottom of international PPP per-capita lists in 2025.
Quick notes on a few of them
• South Sudan: Years of conflict, breakdown of public services, and hyperinflation have pushed income measures to rock-bottom levels.
• Burundi: Chronic underinvestment, weak institutions, shrinking foreign aid and climate-driven food shocks have produced severe poverty and humanitarian needs.
• Central African Republic (CAR): Political instability and conflict block growth and investment; extractive resources are present but governance failures limit benefits to ordinary people.
• Yemen: A brutal civil war has wrecked the economy, producing widespread famine and dislocation despite pre-war oil revenues.
Why these countries remain so poor
Poverty at the national level is driven by a mix of overlapping factors — many of which these countries share:
1. Conflict and fragility. Active wars, insurgencies or prolonged instability destroy infrastructure, displace people and deter investment. Many of the lowest-ranked countries are in this category.
2. Weak institutions and governance. Corruption, poorly functioning public services, and opaque resource management reduce the capacity of states to deliver education, health and infrastructure.
3. Climate vulnerability and agricultural shocks. Where most income comes from rain-fed smallholder farming, droughts, floods and land degradation push people back into destitution.
4. Debt and financing constraints. The World Bank and IMF have warned that the world’s poorest group of countries entered the mid-2020s with high debt burdens and limited fiscal space, making it hard to invest in development.
5. Limited access to markets and low diversification. Economies dependent on a tiny range of commodities (or on aid) are subject to price swings and have trouble scaling up higher-value activity.
A worrying trend: many of the poorest are worse off than before COVID
Recent international reporting and the World Bank have flagged that a core group of some 20–30 poorest countries — largely in sub-Saharan Africa, plus Afghanistan and Yemen — are in the weakest financial shape in decades. Per-capita incomes in that group remain under roughly $1,100 per year (in many cases much less), leaving entire populations extremely vulnerable to economic shocks, climate disasters and spikes in food prices.
Paths out of extreme poverty — realistic, but slow
Development experts repeat familiar prescriptions: improved governance, expanded access to education and health, investments in resilient agriculture and infrastructure, and debt relief or better financing terms. For fragile states, peacebuilding and security are prerequisites. International support — both from multilateral lenders and donor countries — remains crucial, but long-term progress requires domestic reforms that broaden the political constituency for investment in human capital.
Caveats and how these rankings are used
• Different metrics, different pictures. Rankings by nominal GDP per capita (market exchange rates) can reorder countries compared with PPP rankings. PPP is preferred for assessing living standards, nominal for comparing currency-valued output. Always check which metric a list uses.
• Data gaps. Some fragile states have poor statistical systems; estimates can be revised substantially as new data (or better methods) arrive. That means the bottom ranks are indicative, not absolute.
Bottom line
In 2025 the poorest countries — most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and conflict-affected parts of the Middle East — continue to face a tangle of conflict, weak institutions, climate shocks and debt that suppress incomes and keep people in extreme poverty. The international community can help with financing and technical assistance, but sustainable change will require safer, more accountable governments and economies that create opportunities beyond subsistence agriculture or single-commodity dependence.
Attached is a news article regarding the poorest countries by GDP per capita in 2025
https://gfmag.com/data/economic-data/poorest-country-in-the-world/
Article written and configured by Christopher Stanley
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