With an annual average GDP per capita of US$730 in 1999, Burundi was one of the poorest countries in the world with 60 percent of the population living in conditions of extreme poverty. The vast majority of Burundians were farmers on small plots of land used for subsistence agriculture or for the cultivation of cash crops such as coffee and tea. The poorest 40 percent of the country controlled only 20 percent of the wealth, whereas the richest 40 percent controlled 63.7 percent. The government spent only 0.6 percent of its gross domestic product on health but 5.8 percent on military expenditures. The majority of Burundian citizens struggled to supply themselves and their families with even the most basic
| GDP per Capita (US$) | |||||
| Country | 1975 | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1998 |
| Burundi | 162 | 176 | 198 | 206 | 147 |
| United States | 19,364 | 21,529 | 23,200 | 25,363 | 29,683 |
| Dem. Rep. of Congo | 392 | 313 | 293 | 247 | 127 |
| Rwanda | 233 | 321 | 312 | 292 | 227 |
| SOURCE : United Nations. Human Development Report 2000; Trends in human development and per capita income. | |||||
| Distribution of Income or Consumption by Percentage Share: Burundi | |
| Lowest 10% | 3.4 |
| Lowest 20% | 7.9 |
| Second 20% | 12.1 |
| Third 20% | 16.3 |
| Fourth 20% | 22.1 |
| Highest 20% | 41.6 |
| Highest 10% | 26.6 |
| Survey year: 1992 | |
| Note: This information refers to expenditure shares by percentiles of the population and is ranked by per capita expenditure. | |
| SOURCE : 2000 World Development Indicators [CD-ROM]. | |
health care, with only 6 doctors and 17 nurses per 100,000 people. The daily intake of calories for the average Burundian fell from 2,104 in 1970 to only 1,685 in 1997. Over the same period the daily supply of protein fell by 30.8 percent and the intake of fat by 26.7 percent.