Publication: Liberia Country Economic Memorandum: Escaping the Natural Resource Trap - Pathways to Sustainable Growth and Economic Diversification in Liberia
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2025-03-10
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2025-03-10
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Liberia is one of the poorest countries, ranking 180th out of the 190 countries in the World Bank’s development database. Based on the national poverty line, 59 percent of Liberians were poor in 2016, the latest year for which household survey data is available. According to World Bank estimations, about 6 out of 10 Liberians continue to live in poverty. Broader welfare measures tell a similar story: Liberia ranked 177th out of 193 countries on the UN Human Development Index and the UN Gender Inequality Index in 2022. Low human development is exemplified by Liberia’s score of 0.32 on the World Bank’s measure of human capital, suggesting that a newborn child will only reach 32 percent of their potential productivity as an adult under current conditions of healthcare and education. Poverty is more prevalent in rural areas, and its incidence increases with distance from the capital, Monrovia, highlighting Liberia’s severe spatial challenges. Rapid population growth, deforestation, and the accelerating impacts of climate change are degrading the country’s abundant natural capital, a dynamic which, in turn, is increasingly tied to the persistence of poverty. Pervasive food insecurity contributes to the high rate of child stunting and to malnutrition more generally. Inadequate sanitation heightens the risk of communicable disease.
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“World Bank. 2025. Liberia Country Economic Memorandum: Escaping the Natural Resource Trap - Pathways to Sustainable Growth and Economic Diversification in Liberia. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42926 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
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