Income in the Republic of the Congo
The median income in the Republic of the Congo was about $2.98 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars), at that survey — richer than 13% of everyone alive. Half of the Republic of the Congo lived on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the top 14% of the Republic of the Congo.
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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 XAF at 2021 prices (the 2011 survey, carried forward), at each point on the curve of the Republic of the Congo (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of the Republic of the Congo | FCFA 99,339 | $0.99 |
| 25% of the Republic of the Congo | FCFA 163,640 | $1.63 |
| 50% of the Republic of the Congo | FCFA 299,673 | $2.98 |
| 75% of the Republic of the Congo | FCFA 538,608 | $5.37 |
| 90% of the Republic of the Congo | FCFA 866,893 | $8.63 |
| 99% of the Republic of the Congo | FCFA 3,744,656 | $37 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in the Republic of the Congo
How much of the Republic of the Congo 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 | Republic of the Congo | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 50% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 39% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 10% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 1% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayRepublic of the Congo 50% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayRepublic of the Congo 39% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayRepublic of the Congo 10% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayRepublic of the Congo 1% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 50% of the Republic of the Congo lived on Level 1, under $3.00 a day per person; worldwide, roughly one in seven people do.
The line that moved
In the Republic of the Congo, 55% lived under the $3.00 line at the 2005 survey; 39% at the 2011 one — a fall of 15 points in 6 years.
Share of the Republic of the Congo 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 the Republic of the Congo (survey year 2011), 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 the Republic of the Congo's — and a few far from it, for scale.