Income in Botswana
The median income in Botswana was about $5.12 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars), at that survey — richer than 33% of everyone alive. Half of Botswana lived on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the top 35% of Botswana.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in BWP at 2021 prices (the 2015 survey, carried forward), at each point on the curve of Botswana (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Botswana | BWP 4,285 | $1.86 |
| 25% of Botswana | BWP 6,635 | $2.88 |
| 50% of Botswana | BWP 11,784 | $5.12 |
| 75% of Botswana | BWP 24,766 | $11 |
| 90% of Botswana | BWP 48,956 | $21 |
| 99% of Botswana | BWP 206,538 | $90 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Botswana
How much of Botswana and of the world lived on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Botswana | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 27% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 41% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 28% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 4% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayBotswana 27% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayBotswana 41% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayBotswana 28% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayBotswana 4% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 41% of Botswana lived on Level 2, between $3.00 and $8.30 a day per person; worldwide, about 39% of people do.
The line that moved
In Botswana, 42% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1993 survey; 21% at the 2015 one — a fall of 20 points in 22 years.
Share of Botswana under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Botswana (survey year 2015), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Botswana's — and a few far from it, for scale.