‘Second Poorest’ Nation? | FactCheck.org

In a September 10 press conference, President Barack Obama characterized Afghanistan as "the second poorest country in the world." It’s an impoverished country indeed, but second poorest? The CIA World Factbook doesn’t think so.

It lists Afghanistan as number 210 of 227, with a per capita gross domestic product of $1,000 in 2009. That’s orders of magnitude lower than the richest country, Liechtenstein, with a GDP of $122,100 per person — but it’s much higher than the per capita GDP of the actual second poorest country, Burundi, with $300. The Democratic Republic of the Congo ranks last. The International Monetary Fund puts Afghanistan at 170 of 183 nations based on purchasing power parity per capita GDP. (PPP takes into account not only how much money a country makes, but what that money can buy.)

So what gives? The White House tells us that the president was referring to the United Nations’ 2009 Human Development Report, which lists Afghanistan as number 181 of 182 in terms of human development.

‘Second Poorest’ Nation? | FactCheck.org