What would a basic income cost in Sierra Leone?
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Total cost per year
66.7 billion Sierra Leonean leones
about 2.94 billion US dollars
8.82 million people × 630 Sierra Leonean leones a month × 12 months
Compared with
- GDP (nominal) (2025)39.4%
Sierra Leone in numbers
Sierra Leone has a population of 8.82 million (2025) and a GDP of 169 billion Sierra Leonean leones (about 7.46 billion US dollars) in 2025.
Paying everyone 630 Sierra Leonean leones a month would cost 66.7 billion Sierra Leonean leones a year (about 2.94 billion US dollars), or 39.4% of GDP. The World Bank has no recent central government expense or tax figures for Sierra Leone, so only GDP is compared.
Children only (under 18: 3.91 million) would cost 29.6 billion Sierra Leonean leones a year (17.5% of GDP); adults only (18 and over: 4.91 million), 37.1 billion Sierra Leonean leones (21.9%).
Default amount: 630 Sierra Leonean leones a month is the World Bank's international poverty line of $3.00 a day (2021 PPP), converted into Sierra Leonean leones 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
- 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.