10 World's Worst Economies

Chad

The government of oil-rich Chad hasn’t seen fit to spread the wealth to its citizens, 80 percent of whom are still subsistence farmers. Country’s per capita GDP is $920 2011, GDP growth is 1.6 percent and inflation rate is at 1.8 percent.

The United Nations' Human Development Index ranks Chad as the seventh poorest country in the world, with 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The GDP per capita was estimated as $1,600 in 2008. Chad is part of the Bank of Central African States, the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (UDEAC) and the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa. Its currency is the CFA franc. Years of civil war have scared away foreign investors; those who left Chad between 1979 and 1982 have only recently begun to regain confidence in the country's future. In 2000 major direct foreign investment in the oil sector began, boosting the country's economic prospects.