What is the poorest country in Asia?
Afghanistan is the poorest country in Asia by GDP per capita, at roughly $400 per person. Yemen is close behind, but its data is older and less reliable.
Afghanistan has the lowest GDP per capita in Asia, at roughly $400 per person. Its economy shrank sharply after the Taliban takeover in 2021, when foreign aid was cut and central bank reserves frozen.
Yemen is close behind and may be just as poor. Its war, which began in 2014, has largely stopped reliable data collection, so its figure is an older estimate. Syria and North Korea are in a similar position: Syria's figures predate the fall of the Assad government in December 2024, and North Korea publishes no national accounts at all, so its figure is an outside estimate.
The ten poorest Asian countries by GDP per capita
| # | Country | GDP per capita (USD) | Sub-region |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Afghanistan | $400 | South Asia |
| 2 | Yemen | $600 | West Asia |
| 3 | Syria | $1,100 | West Asia |
| 4 | North Korea | $1,200 | East Asia |
| 5 | Timor-Leste | $1,300 | Southeast Asia |
| 6 | Myanmar | $1,500 | Southeast Asia |
| 7 | Nepal | $1,500 | South Asia |
| 8 | Pakistan | $1,600 | South Asia |
| 9 | Tajikistan | $1,600 | Central Asia |
| 10 | Laos | $2,300 | Southeast Asia |
GDP per capita is not the whole story
GDP per person shows average economic output, not how people live. Measures that include health and education, such as the UN's Human Development Index, rank Afghanistan and Yemen at the bottom in Asia too. However, countries like Nepal and Bangladesh have made much faster progress on life expectancy and poverty reduction than their incomes alone would suggest.
Several of these countries are on the UN's list of Least Developed Countries, including Afghanistan, Yemen, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos and Timor-Leste. Bhutan graduated from the list in 2023, and others are on track to follow.
See all 49 countries in the GDP per capita ranking.
GDP per capita: nominal US dollars, World Bank estimates for the latest available year (mostly 2024–2025; older for conflict-affected countries, and an outside estimate for North Korea, which publishes no official figures).
Related questions
What is the poorest country in Southeast Asia?
By GDP per capita, the lowest in Southeast Asia are Timor-Leste ($1,300) and Myanmar ($1,500), followed by Laos. Singapore, in the same region, is the richest country in Asia.
Why are figures for some poor countries uncertain?
War, sanctions and isolation make economic statistics hard to collect. For Yemen, Syria and North Korea, international agencies rely on old data or estimates, so small differences in ranking near the bottom should not be over-read.