Central Africa
What Central Africa’s published poverty observations can tell us
The World Bank’s $3.00-a-day series puts Cameroon’s 2021 poverty estimate at 26.7% and the Central African Republic’s at 71.6%. Some nearby countries have much older observations. The table dates every figure and pairs it with the available Gini index.
Sources checked
Labels include each observation year. Values use the World Bank’s international poverty line.
Cameroon and the Central African Republic can be compared in 2021
The published shares below the international line were 26.7% in Cameroon and 71.6% in the Central African Republic. The same-year gap was 44.9 percentage points. A common international threshold helps compare the shares, although underlying survey collection and welfare measures can differ. Source 1 Source 3
DR Congo and Chad have more recent observations than some neighbors
DR Congo’s latest observation here was 85.3% in 2020, and Chad’s was 39.5% in 2022. Gabon’s 3.8% figure is from 2017. The Republic of the Congo’s 39.2% figure dates to 2011. Do not treat the dates as interchangeable when using the chart. Source 1
Poverty and inequality measure different aspects of a distribution
Cameroon’s 2021 Gini index was 42.2 and the Central African Republic’s was 43.0, despite their large difference on the poverty line. Gini describes dispersion across a distribution. The poverty headcount is the share below a fixed purchasing-power threshold. Source 1 Source 2
The series only shows published observation years
Chad’s share fell from 41.9% in 2018 to 39.5% in 2022. Cameroon’s went from 29.0% in 2014 to 26.7% in 2021. The table does not fill years between observations. National poverty statistics may use different thresholds and should be cited separately. Source 1 Source 3