The World Bank’s latest 2025 ranking of gross national income (GNI) per capita places Algeria in the lower-middle-income category, with a threshold set between $1,136 and $4,465.
With $3,900 per capita (approximately €3,600), the country ranks slightly above Morocco ($3,710) and Tunisia ($3,840), but remains far behind the continent’s most dynamic economies, such as South Africa ($6,780), Gabon ($7,540), and Mauritius ($10,760).
In a Maghreb region wracked by economic tensions, Algeria’s indicators are fragile. This income level actually masks significant structural vulnerability: dependence on hydrocarbons, persistent inflation, a
declining dinar, a skills drain, and a lack of economic diversification.
Added to this is authoritarian economic management, which is unfavourable to private investment and innovation.
Within the Arab world, the gap is even more glaring. Qatar ($70,500), the United Arab Emirates ($48,950), and Kuwait ($39,570) are among the global top 10. Saudi Arabia, despite its challenges, reaches $27,590.
Algeria, meanwhile, remains off the radar of the region’s emerging economic powers, with a growth model that is largely not inclusive.
The ranking also highlights that Africa remains the poorest continent, with 17 African countries in the bottom 20, including Burundi ($240), the Central African Republic, Mozambique, and Niger.
While progress has been noted overall since 1987, regional disparities remain marked: sub-Saharan Africa still has 46% low-income countries, compared to 13% in South Asia, which is now witnessing an accelerated transition.
The fact that Algeria is close to the threshold for the upper category but has been unable to cross it for several years illustrates the internal obstacles to its development. Energy revenues are no longer
sufficient to sustainably support growth or generate a ripple effect on other sectors.
MK/ac/Sf/fss/as/APA