What would a basic income cost in Rwanda?
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Total cost per year
5.94 trillion Rwandan francs
about 4.16 billion US dollars
14.6 million people × 34,000 Rwandan francs a month × 12 months
Compared with
- Government expense (central) (2023)141%
- Government revenue (central, excl. grants) (2024)140%
- Tax revenue (central government) (2024)200%
- GDP (nominal) (2025)25.4%
Rwanda in numbers
Rwanda has a population of 14.6 million (2025) and a GDP of 23.4 trillion Rwandan francs (about 16.4 billion US dollars) in 2025.
Paying everyone 34,000 Rwandan francs a month would cost 5.94 trillion Rwandan francs a year (about 4.16 billion US dollars), or 25.4% of GDP. That equals 141% of central government expense (2023), 140% of its revenue (2024), and 200% of its tax revenue (2024).
Children only (under 18: 6.35 million) would cost 2.59 trillion Rwandan francs a year (11.1% of GDP); adults only (18 and over: 8.22 million), 3.35 trillion Rwandan francs (14.3%).
Default amount: 34,000 Rwandan francs a month is the World Bank's international poverty line of $3.00 a day (2021 PPP), converted into Rwandan 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), 2023, 2024
- 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.