Top 10 Most Poorest Country in the World

1. Democratic Republic of the Congo

Not to be mixed with the neighboring Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has become the poorest country in the world as of 2010. Democratic Republic of the Congo was known as Zaire until 1997. Congo is the largest country in the world that has French as an official language – the population of D.R Congo is about six million larger than the population of France (71 million people in D.R Congo vs 65 million in France). The Second Congo War beginning in 1998 has devastated the country. The war that involves at least 7 foreign armies is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War II – it has already killed 5.4 million people. In Africa the war is called African World War. It is estimated that in 2010 at least 45,000 people in Congo are killed monthly.

2. Zimbabwe

Thanks to hyperinflation Zimbabwe has become the second poorest country in the world dropping from first position in 2010. It used to one of the 10 poorest countries but the 87.9 sextillion percent inflation has left the countries economy into ruins. The inflation worrying the country since 2007 saw the government printing 100 billion dollar bills that were only good enough to buy a few eggs.

3. Liberia

Liberia is one of the few countries in Africa that have not been colonized by Europe. Instead, Liberia was founded and colonized by the slaves who escaped from America. These slaves made up the elite of the country and they established a government that closely resembled that of the United States of America. In 1980 the president of Liberia was overthrown and a period of instability and civil war followed. After the killings of hundreds of thousands Liberia is in a deep economic crisis. Statistics indicate that about 90% of the population lives below $1.25 a day.

4. Burundi

In addition to being one of the poorest countries in the world this small landlocked African country is known for its wars between the inhabiting competing tribes. The reason Burundi is so poor is because they have never really had any peaceful time between the everlasting civil wars. Corruption, poor access to education, and a high percentage of HIV and AIDS are all the things that Burundi is known for. Approximately 80% of Burundians live in poverty and according to the World Food Programme 57% of children under 5 years suffer from chronic malnutrition. 93% of Burundi’s exports revenues come from selling coffee.

5. Somalia

Unlike many African countries Somalia has never been officially colonized by any country. The efforts of the British Empire were successfully driven back at least 4 times. While Somalia is situated in Eastern Africa it has close ties to the Arab world. As a Muslim country it also belongs to the Arab League.

In recent years the poor people of Somalia have found a new way to make money – hijacking international boats and taking the crew and the cargo as hostage. International companies are known to pay pirates from 1 to 20 million dollars just to get the ships back. An oil tanker filled with oil can be worth a few hundred million dollars.

6. Eritrea

The location of Eritrea gives it an advantage of controlling the sea route through the Suez Canal. This is why Italy made it its colony just a year after the opening of the canal in 1869 and why the British conquered it in 1941. In the present Eritrea has been accused by the USA of having relations with terrorists. In 2009 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Eritrea in supplying weapons to Somalian militant group al-Shabab which is believed to have relations with Al Qaeda.

7. Central African Republic

As the unoriginal name suggest this former French colony is right in the middle of Africa. Being among 1 of the poorest countries in the world means that the governmental control of the country is extremely weak. The well-being of the population is entirely dependent on foreign aid and numerous non profit organizations. The very present of aid workers in the country is the largest source of revenue for Central Africans. An estimated 40% of import revenue comes from selling diamonds mined from the countries rich land.

8. Niger

Niger is one of the poorest countries in Africa – over 80% of its land is covered by the giant desert of Sahara. While it might seem like a hostile place to live it is actually even worse – ongoing droughts are leading to more desertification. One day the whole Republic of Niger might be swallowed by the mighty desert. Currently most of its terrain is made up of desert plains and sand dunes with some savanna around the Niger river. Over 5000 years ago the same land was actually covered with fertile grasslands – the desertification has took place in the last 2000 years.

9. Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is a poor west African country that has English as its official language. Over the years however the locals have used English to derive their own language called Krio. It uses English vocabulary but the grammar comes from 12 different African languages. As is the case with a lot of the top 10 poorest countries, Sierra Leone is also one of the largest diamond manufacturers of the world. If you have seen the movie Blood Diamond you should know that it is based on Sierra Leone.

10. Afghanistan

Over 70% of Afghanis live with less than 2$ a day. To make money a lot of people have gone into drug trafficking. Afghanistan is the worlds largest exporter of heroin. The drug problem in this poor country is so large that a drug test in the Afghanistan police force showed that 17% of the countries police officers had lately used drugs. Even worse – only 30% of the police can read! No wonder Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world.