Country profile · Sub-Saharan Africa · Low income
Eritrea
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 · 2011
$2.1 bn
191st largest of 214
The size of the economy — everything produced in a year. The headline number every other figure argues with.
GDP growth · 2011
8.7%
8th 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 · 2011
$689
206th highest of 214
Output per person — the rough proxy for average living standards, and an average that hides a lot.
Inflation (CPI)
No recent data reported
How fast consumer prices rise. What it understates for poorer households is half the story.
Unemployment · 2025
6.0%
78th highest of 187
The share of the labour force seeking work without finding it — and it counts precarious work as 'employed'.
Population · 2025
3.6 mn
131st largest of 217
The denominator of everything per-capita.
Exports · 2011
18.2%
160th highest of 193
How much of the economy is sold to the world — openness, measured on the way out.
Imports · 2011
29.2%
144th highest of 193
How much of demand is met from abroad — openness, measured on the way in.
FDI, net inflows · 2011
1.9%
109th highest of 202
Long-term foreign investment into real assets — a confidence signal that is hard to fake and slow to reverse.
Total reserves · 2019
$191.7 mn
174th largest of 179
The central bank's war chest for defending the currency and paying for imports.
Current account · 2000
-14.8%
181st highest of 200
The broadest external balance — trade plus income and remittances. Persistent deficits must be financed.
Government debt
No recent data reported
What the state owes relative to the economy carrying it. Reported patchily — gaps here are common.
Exchange rate · 2025
15.1
103rd highest of 213
How many units of local currency a dollar buys — a running vote of confidence.
Gini index
No recent data reported
Inequality in one number: 0 is perfect equality, 100 is one person holding everything. Surveyed rarely.
Life expectancy · 2024
68.9
162nd highest of 217
The single most honest summary of whether an economy serves its people.
Extreme poverty
No recent data reported
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 Eritrea next to any other economy — open the comparison desk — or see where it sits on the world heat map.