Country profile · Sub-Saharan Africa · Upper middle income
Botswana
Every figure below carries its global rank and its history — and a plain line on what the number means. Figures: World Bank, World Development Indicators (open data), retrieved 2026-07-27.
At a glance
Latest available year per indicator
GDP · 2025
$19.9 bn
136th largest of 214
The size of the economy — everything produced in a year. The headline number every other figure argues with.
GDP growth · 2025
-0.7%
200th fastest-growing of 214
How fast output is expanding, inflation-adjusted. Growth without jobs or wages is where the story usually hides.
GDP per capita · 2025
$7,778
117th highest of 214
Output per person — the rough proxy for average living standards, and an average that hides a lot.
Inflation (CPI) · 2025
2.7%
104th highest of 193
How fast consumer prices rise. What it understates for poorer households is half the story.
Unemployment · 2025
24.5%
4th highest of 187
The share of the labour force seeking work without finding it — and it counts precarious work as 'employed'.
Population · 2025
2.6 mn
143rd largest of 217
The denominator of everything per-capita.
Exports · 2025
32.0%
112th highest of 193
How much of the economy is sold to the world — openness, measured on the way out.
Imports · 2025
37.5%
117th highest of 193
How much of demand is met from abroad — openness, measured on the way in.
FDI, net inflows · 2024
2.4%
87th highest of 202
Long-term foreign investment into real assets — a confidence signal that is hard to fake and slow to reverse.
Total reserves · 2024
$3.5 bn
118th largest of 179
The central bank's war chest for defending the currency and paying for imports.
Current account · 2024
-4.3%
140th highest of 200
The broadest external balance — trade plus income and remittances. Persistent deficits must be financed.
Government debt · 2023
19.7%
94th highest of 109
What the state owes relative to the economy carrying it. Reported patchily — gaps here are common.
Exchange rate · 2025
13.5
105th highest of 213
How many units of local currency a dollar buys — a running vote of confidence.
Gini index · 2015
54.9
2nd most unequal of 171
Inequality in one number: 0 is perfect equality, 100 is one person holding everything. Surveyed rarely.
Life expectancy · 2024
69.3
158th highest of 217
The single most honest summary of whether an economy serves its people.
Extreme poverty · 2015
21.4%
42nd highest of 171
The share of people living below the international extreme-poverty line — the floor beneath every other economic statistic.
What these indicators can — and cannot — tell you: Economics, Explained
The long view
1990 – latest
Put Botswana next to any other economy — open the comparison desk — or see where it sits on the world heat map.