Income in South Sudan
The median income in South Sudan is about $1.52 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 3% of everyone alive. Half of South Sudan lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the top 3% of South Sudan.
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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 today's SSP, at each point on the curve of South Sudan (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of South Sudan | SSP 56,291 | $0.53 |
| 25% of South Sudan | SSP 95,753 | $0.91 |
| 50% of South Sudan | SSP 160,380 | $1.52 |
| 75% of South Sudan | SSP 278,555 | $2.64 |
| 90% of South Sudan | SSP 447,904 | $4.24 |
| 99% of South Sudan | SSP 1,356,373 | $13 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in South Sudan
How much of South Sudan and of the world lives 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 | South Sudan | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 80% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 18% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 2% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | <1% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a daySouth Sudan 80% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a daySouth Sudan 18% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a daySouth Sudan 2% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a daySouth Sudan <1% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 80% of South Sudan lives on Level 1, under $3.00 a day per person; worldwide, roughly one in seven people do.
The line that moved
In South Sudan, 45% lived under the $3.00 line at the 2009 survey; 77% at the 2016 one — a rise of about 32 points. Here the line moved the other way.
Share of South Sudan 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 South Sudan (survey year 2016), 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 South Sudan's — and a few far from it, for scale.