The 100 poorest countries analyzed in this article generated US$3.887 trillion worth of products and services for 2022.
That metric represents 2.4 percent of the world’s overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The overall global total for the world economy equaled $160.16 trillion in American dollars as of April 2022.
The latest global benchmark for economic wealth increased by 68.3 percent since 2011 when the Great Recession was deepening. From 2021 to 2022, the world’s overall GDP increased by 10.1 percent
In comparison, the 100 poorest economies finishing with the lowest GDP scores grew by a more aggressive 68.8 percent over the 10-year period ending in 2022 and by a slightly higher 10.3% compared to one year earlier in 2021.
GDP is a valuable measurement of the total economic activity for a specific country, including both products and services. Actual profits are excluded from this metric, since technically those amounts belong to a firm’s parent country which may well be in another country. Significant as a measure for a nation’s prosperity, GDP does aspire to quantify the total productivity for each nation’s economy in general terms.
GDP is also known as a coincident economic indicator according to The Economist. That’s because GDP serves as a benchmark for the overall state-of-the-economy cycle.
The figures in this report were calculated using a Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) basis as of April 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund’s calculations. PPP adjusts for country-specific prices paid for goods and services.
Our sortable table entitled World’s 100 Poorest Economies by GDP Rank is presented further down in this study. This analysis, however, starts by showcasing the bottom 20 GDP generators.
Top 20 Poorest Countries by GDP Scores
The following 20 economies generated the tiniest amounts of economic wealth in terms of GDP on a Purchasing Power Parity basis. These geographic entities are listed in ascending order starting with lowest GDP amounts.
- Tonga: US$678 million (up 3.5% from 2021)
- Vanuatu: $920 million (up 4.7%)
- São Tomé/Príncipe: $1.06 billion (up 6%)
- Dominica: $1.07 billion (up 8%)
- Samoa: $1.19 billion (down -4.3%)
- St. Kitts/Nevis: $1.61 billion (up 0.4%)
- Solomon Islands: $1.71 billion (up 4%)
- St. Vincent/Grenadines: $1.72 billion (up 3.6%)
- Grenada: $2.1 billion (up 9.9%)
- Antigua/Barbuda: $2.2 billion (up 9.1%)
- San Marino: $2.4 billion (up 9.6%)
- St. Lucia: $3.0 billion (up 11.2%)
- Belize: $3.1 billion (up 14.3%)
- Comoros: $3.2 billion (up 6.5%)
- Seychelles: $3.5 billion (up 12.4%)
- Cabo Verde: $4.41 billion (up 11.3%)
- Aruba: $4.42 billion (up 21.7%)
- Timor-Leste: $4.6 billion (down -1.1%)
- Barbados: $5 billion (up 5.6%)
- Andorra: $5.2 billion (up 13.5%)
Focusing in on the top 20 poorest economies, 18 increased their GDP scores from 2020 to 2021. Double-digit gainers were the holiday mecca Aruba (up 21.7%), Belize (up 14.3%), Andorra (up 13.5%), Seychelles (up 12.4%) in the Indian Ocean off Africa’s eastern coast, Cabo Verde (up 11.3%) and St. Lucia (up 11.2%). The pair of year-over-year decliners were Samoa (down -4.3%) and the tiny island country in Southeast Asia called Timor-Leste (down -1.1%) also called East Timor.
World’s 100 Poorest Economies by GDP Rank
Use the table below to search by country name, 2022 GDP amount and percentage changes since 2021 or starting from 2011 when the Great Recession was on.
| Rank | Economy | GDP PPP (US$) | from 2011 | 2021-2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tonga | $678,000,000 | +46.4% | +3.5% |
| 2. | Vanuatu | $920,000,000 | +54.6% | +4.7% |
| 3. | São Tomé/Príncipe | $1,063,000,000 | +92.2% | +6% |
| 4. | Dominica | $1,074,000,000 | +48.5% | +8% |
| 5. | Samoa | $1,193,000,000 | +28.8% | -4.3% |
| 6. | St. Kitts/Nevis | $1,609,000,000 | +39.8% | +0.4% |
| 7. | Solomon Islands | $1,705,000,000 | +51.6% | +4% |
| 8. | St. Vincent/Grenadines | $1,720,000,000 | +46% | +3.6% |
| 9. | Grenada | $2,081,000,000 | +75.3% | +9.9% |
| 10. | Antigua/Barbuda | $2,206,000,000 | +21.5% | +9.1% |
| 11. | San Marino | $2,387,000,000 | +30.2% | +9.6% |
| 12. | St. Lucia | $3,025,000,000 | +29.9% | +11.2% |
| 13. | Belize | $3,148,000,000 | +23.5% | +14.3% |
| 14. | Comoros | $3,206,000,000 | +94.2% | +6.5% |
| 15. | Seychelles | $3,489,000,000 | +90.4% | +12.4% |
| 16. | Cabo Verde | $4,413,000,000 | +48.2% | +11.3% |
| 17. | Aruba | $4,420,000,000 | +22% | +21.7% |
| 18. | Timor-Leste | $4,573,000,000 | +99.4% | -1.1% |
| 19. | Barbados | $5,037,000,000 | +9.2% | +5.6% |
| 20. | Andorra | $5,157,000,000 | +41.2% | +13.5% |
| 21. | Guinea-Bissau | $5,279,000,000 | +123% | +8.1% |
| 22. | Central African Rep | $5,528,000,000 | +23.5% | +5.2% |
| 23. | Lesotho | $6,408,000,000 | +36.7% | +6.3% |
| 24. | Djibouti | $6,774,000,000 | +105.1% | +8.3% |
| 25. | The Gambia | $6,792,000,000 | +65.9% | +10% |
| 26. | Eritrea | $7,695,000,000 | +47.3% | +7.2% |
| 27. | Liberia | $8,776,000,000 | +104.7% | +8.5% |
| 28. | Bhutan | $9,853,000,000 | +110.2% | +0.3% |
| 29. | Suriname | $10,676,000,000 | +28.7% | +0.5% |
| 30. | Burundi | $10,779,000,000 | +76.4% | +6.7% |
| 31. | Maldives | $11,385,000,000 | +120.9% | +39% |
| 32. | Eswatini | $11,985,000,000 | +38.7% | +7.4% |
| 33. | Fiji | $12,370,000,000 | +60% | 0.01% |
| 34. | South Sudan | $13,533,000,000 | -58.2% | +9.7% |
| 35. | Montenegro | $15,476,000,000 | +72.5% | +17.1% |
| 36. | Bahamas | $15,854,000,000 | +41.5% | +10% |
| 37. | Sierra Leone | $16,277,000,000 | +106.1% | +7.5% |
| 38. | Somalia | $20,641,000,000 | +40.8% | +6.2% |
| 39. | Republic of Congo | $22,519,000,000 | -5.6% | +4% |
| 40. | Togo | $22,612,000,000 | +110% | +9.5% |
| 41. | Iceland | $24,197,000,000 | +85.3% | +8.7% |
| 42. | Kosovo | $25,189,000,000 | +80.8% | +14% |
| 43. | Namibia | $27,118,000,000 | +42.4% | +5.1% |
| 44. | Malta | $28,486,000,000 | +136.2% | +14% |
| 45. | Equatorial Guinea | $28,522,000,000 | -15.7% | +0.5% |
| 46. | Chad | $29,684,000,000 | +33.4% | +3% |
| 47. | Mauritania | $29,993,000,000 | +88.8% | +7.3% |
| 48. | Guyana | $30,287,000,000 | +347.2% | +24.9% |
| 49. | Mauritius | $31,720,000,000 | +52.1% | +8.2% |
| 50. | Jamaica | $32,378,000,000 | +40.4% | +8.7% |
| 51. | Brunei Darussalam | $33,389,000,000 | +1% | +3.5% |
| 52. | West Bank/Gaza | $33,403,000,000 | +100.7% | +10.4% |
| 53. | Malawi | $35,409,000,000 | +58.1% | +6.4% |
| 54. | Rwanda | $37,211,000,000 | +149.2% | +14.8% |
| 55. | Niger | $37,423,000,000 | +105.1% | +5.6% |
| 56. | Kyrgyz Republic | $37,792,000,000 | +107.8% | +8.1% |
| 57. | Haiti | $38,476,000,000 | +35.8% | +2.3% |
| 58. | Gabon | $38,574,000,000 | +46.4% | +5.1% |
| 59. | Papua New Guinea | $39,339,000,000 | +97.2% | +6% |
| 60. | Zimbabwe | $39,906,000,000 | +47.3% | +10.8% |
| 61. | North Macedonia | $40,810,000,000 | +69.6% | +8.3% |
| 62. | Trinidad/Tobago | $42,259,000,000 | +1% | +3.1% |
| 63. | Moldova | $42,483,000,000 | +114.9% | +18.7% |
| 64. | Cyprus | $43,802,000,000 | +54.5% | +9.9% |
| 65. | Guinea | $44,455,000,000 | +144.6% | +8.5% |
| 66. | Tajikistan | $45,540,000,000 | +137% | +13.7% |
| 67. | Mongolia | $46,421,000,000 | +88% | +5.6% |
| 68. | Nicaragua | $46,757,000,000 | +85.8% | +14.9% |
| 69. | Armenia | $46,864,000,000 | +103% | +10.1% |
| 70. | Botswana | $47,262,000,000 | +67.2% | +17.2% |
| 71. | Mozambique | $47,606,000,000 | +92.4% | +6.4% |
| 72. | Albania | $49,827,000,000 | +68% | +13.1% |
| 73. | Madagascar | $51,521,000,000 | +53% | +7.8% |
| 74. | Benin | $53,108,000,000 | +132.3% | +11% |
| 75. | Mali | $55,335,000,000 | +95.3% | +7.3% |
| 76. | Burkina Faso | $58,985,000,000 | +131.2% | +11.4% |
| 77. | Estonia | $59,557,000,000 | +82.7% | +12.9% |
| 78. | Macao | $59,660,000,000 | -10.3% | +22.9% |
| 79. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $60,679,000,000 | +66.3% | +10.2% |
| 80. | Yemen | $65,603,000,000 | -23.6% | +2.1% |
| 81. | Laos | $68,703,000,000 | +154.6% | +6.3% |
| 82. | Georgia | $69,136,000,000 | +120.1% | +14.9% |
| 83. | El Salvador | $69,314,000,000 | +72.6% | +14.9% |
| 84. | Honduras | $69,388,000,000 | +108.3% | +17.2% |
| 85. | Latvia | $70,532,000,000 | +77.9% | +9% |
| 86. | Senegal | $72,341,000,000 | +107.9% | +10.5% |
| 87. | Zambia | $75,690,000,000 | +62.4% | +8.6% |
| 88. | Bahrain | $87,150,000,000 | +43.9% | +6.5% |
| 89. | Cambodia | $87,856,000,000 | +131.4% | +6.4% |
| 90. | Luxembourg | $90,532,000,000 | +84.9% | +11.3% |
| 91. | Uruguay | $94,783,000,000 | +43.9% | +8.7% |
| 92. | Slovenia | $102,424,000,000 | +72.5% | +12.6% |
| 93. | Paraguay | $107,554,000,000 | +61.7% | +8.5% |
| 94. | Turkmenistan | $117,672,000,000 | +33.6% | +9.3% |
| 95. | Bolivia | $117,877,000,000 | +111.4% | +10.5% |
| 96. | Jordan | $122,180,000,000 | +69.6% | +6.3% |
| 97. | Cameroon | $122,764,000,000 | +103% | +7.9% |
| 98. | Libya | $124,326,000,000 | +88% | +188.8% |
| 99. | Dem Rep Congo | $127,384,000,000 | +185.3% | +10.1% |
| 100. | Costa Rica | $128,134,000,000 | +104.2% | +12.1% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icons at the top of each column.
GDP Cycles: Boom Versus Bust
According to The Economist, two consecutive quarters of falling GDP technically marks a recession. Other economists define a recession as a year-over-year fall in GDP.
Based on an annual drop in GDP, 2 out of the 100 poorest countries experienced a recessionary period from 2021 to 2022. The recession-hit economies based on an annual drop are Samoa (GDP down -4.3 percent) and Timor-Leste (down -1.1 percent).
Let’s think beyond the cold economic theory.
There is another type of recession known as a “growth recession” even though GDP is expanding. This is when a nation’s annual GDP growth fails to attain its long-term productive potential. For example, financial analysis shows that Japan’s yearly GDP persistently dropped below 3 percent prior to 2020.
GDP Exclusions
Note that GDP does not include every possible transaction that an individual economy generates.
Listed below are examples of items specifically excluded from GDP.
- Transfer payments including government-provided social security and pensions;
- Barter transactions such as exchanging a power drill for a case of beer;
- Second-hand or used products notably automobiles produced in a prior year; and
- Unfinished intermediate goods such as a piece of metal sold before its final sale as a finished component of a dishwasher.
See also Top 100 Richest Countries by GDP, Top 100 Poorest Countries by GDP per Capita, Latest Richest Countries Ranked by GDP per Capita, Exchange Rates for Top 25 Poorest Countries and Central Bank Interest Rates
Research Reference Materials:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Country Comparison: GDP (Purchasing Power Parity). Accessed on May 7, 2022
International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Databases. Accessed on May 7, 2022
Investopedia, What Is Purchasing Power Parity?. Accessed on May 7, 2022
The Economist, Guide to Economic Indicators: Making Sense of Economics (7th Edition). Accessed on May 7, 2022
Trading Economics, Economic Indicators by Category. Accessed on May 7, 2022
World Bank, GDP, PPP (current international $). Accessed on May 7, 2022