Income per Person (GDP per capita, PPP) in Sierra Leone: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

Statistics often reduce human existence to cold calculations, but the economic output of a nation tells a profound story of daily survival and labor. Income per person, measured as GDP per capita in purchasing power adjusted international dollars, attempts to capture the average yearly economic output available for each citizen. For Sierra Leone, every single value in this dataset represents a statistical fact about the lives actually lived there, tracking the material realities of food, shelter, and trade across generations from the nineteenth century into the distant future.

The historical arc of this economy reveals a long, gradual ascent followed by periods of fluctuation and projected growth. In the 1800s estimate, the average stood at 600 intl-$, slowly rising decade by decade to reach 800 intl-$ in the 1900s estimate. Growth continued through the mid-century, touching 1,500 in the 1950s and 2,600 in the 1980s, before experiencing dips in the 1990s and 2000s. By the 2020s, income per person stands at 3,800 intl-$ — ranking #148 of 157 countries. Projections stretch ahead to the 2100s projection, estimating a future level of 11,624 intl-$.

If you were born in Sierra Leone across these changing eras, your material world would be defined by these shifting baselines of productivity and wealth. An ancestor living through the 1830s estimate of 660 intl-$ navigated a vastly different economic landscape than someone experiencing the 3,150 recorded in the 2010s, or someone looking toward the 2050s projection of 5,779 intl-$. These figures trace the economic boundaries within which generations have built their homes, raised their families, and pursued their livelihoods.

Where do YOU rank among everyone ever born? →