Widespread poverty has been a major economic issue in some countries, particularly in Africa, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and a host of other factors, which caused a lot of impoverishment and economic dysfunctions.
In measuring the world poverty index, the standard metric is often considered as GDP per capita as it compensates for differences in living costs and rates of inflation by using purchasing power parity (PPP), a way of measuring and assessing an individual’s buying power in any given country.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2023 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index reports that the number of poor people across the globe was put at nearly 1.1 billion with 534 million residing in Sub-Saharan Africa.
10 poorest countries in the world in 2024
Insider Monkey’s compilation of the 10 poorest countries across the world was sourced from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank database for the GDP per capita (current prices) data for 2024.
| Country | GDP Per Capita (2024) | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Burundi | $230 | 13.23 million |
| 2. Afghanistan | $353 | 41 million |
| 3. Syria | $421 | 22.13 million |
| 4. South Sudan | $422 | 11.08 million |
| 5. Malawi | $480 | 20.87 million |
| 6. Yemen | $486 | 35 million |
| 7. Sierra Leone | $526 | 8.6 million |
| 8. Central African Republic | $537 | 5.6 million |
| 9. Madagascar | $538 | 29.61 million |
| 10. Sudan | $547 | 46.87 million |
An analysis of the world’s 10 richest countries reveals the average yearly per-capita purchasing power is over $110,000. The average yearly per-capita purchasing power is unfortunately, less than $1,500 in the 10 poorest countries.
According to the Director, African Department in the IMF, Abebe Aemro Selassie, despite the region's high debt profile, there is a glimpse of hope in Sub-saharan Africa as the pivotal decisions carried out by the region’s Central banks have also seen inflation being halved in the early months of this year, a positive development in a region where the cost-of-living crisis has been acute in recent years.