What would a basic income cost in Cameroon?
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Total cost per year
6.81 trillion Central African CFA francs
about 11.7 billion US dollars
29.9 million people × 19,000 Central African CFA francs a month × 12 months
Compared with
- Government expense (central) (2021)160%
- Government revenue (central, excl. grants) (2021)145%
- Tax revenue (central government) (2021)175%
- GDP (nominal) (2025)19.9%
Cameroon in numbers
Cameroon has a population of 29.9 million (2025) and a GDP of 34.3 trillion Central African CFA francs (about 58.9 billion US dollars) in 2025.
Paying everyone 19,000 Central African CFA francs a month would cost 6.81 trillion Central African CFA francs a year (about 11.7 billion US dollars), or 19.9% of GDP. That equals 160% of central government expense (2021), 145% of its revenue (2021), and 175% of its tax revenue (2021).
Children only (under 18: 14.3 million) would cost 3.26 trillion Central African CFA francs a year (9.5% of GDP); adults only (18 and over: 15.6 million), 3.56 trillion Central African CFA francs (10.4%).
Default amount: 19,000 Central African CFA francs a month is the World Bank's international poverty line of $3.00 a day (2021 PPP), converted into Central African CFA francs with the World Bank's PPP conversion factor for household consumption (2025) and rounded to two significant figures. It is a reference point, not a policy proposal; change it above.
How to read this
This is the gross cost: the total paid out. The real net cost depends on which taxes fund it, which benefits or tax breaks it replaces and whether the payment is taxed. The population, budget and GDP figures are not all from the same year (see the sources).
Sources for the figures
- Population
- World Bank: population, total (SP.POP.TOTL), and population by single year of age 0 to 17 (SP.POP.AG00.FE.IN … SP.POP.AG17.MA.IN), 2025
- SP.POP.AG00.FE.IN … SP.POP.AG17.MA.IN
- Government expense and tax revenue
- World Bank: central government expense, revenue excluding grants and tax revenue, % of GDP (GC.XPN.TOTL.GD.ZS, GC.REV.XGRT.GD.ZS, GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS), 2021
- Default amount
- World Bank: international poverty line of $3.00 a day (2021 PPP), June 2025 update
- World Bank: PPP conversion factor, household final consumption (PA.NUS.PRVT.PP), 2025
- Retrieved from the World Bank API on November 9, 2026 (CC BY 4.0). Government figures are central government, as a share of GDP in their own year, applied to the latest GDP.