Niger, a landlocked West African nation that straddles the Sahel, has consistently been ranked on the bottom of the Human Development Index, at 0.394 as of 2019. Niger’s economy is based largely on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits.
Niger, a landlocked nation in northwest Africa, shipped US$467.4 million worth of exported products around the globe in 2023. That dollar amount reflects a -45.3% decline from $854.3 million 5 years earlier in 2019 but a 4.8% year-over-year upturn compared to $446.1 million during 2022.
Based on the average exchange rate for 2023, Niger uses the West African CFA franc depreciated by -3.5% against the US dollar since 2019 yet appreciated by 2.8% from 2022 to 2023. Niger’s weaker local currency versus the 2019 valuation makes its exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of Niger was $16.617 billion US dollars in 2023, according to official data from the World Bank. The economy of Niger centers on subsistence crops, livestock, and some of the world's largest uranium deposits. In macroeconomic terms, Niger’s total exported goods represent 1.1% of its overall Gross Domestic Product for 2023 ($41.6 billion valued in Purchasing Power Parity US dollars).
This data is based largely on internal markets, subsistence agriculture, and the export of raw commodities: foodstuffs to neighbors and raw minerals to world markets. It has a very low per capita income, and ranks among the least developed and most heavily indebted countries in the world, despite having large raw commodities and a relatively stable government and society not currently affected by civil war or terrorism.
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Traditional subsistence farming, herding, small trading, and informal markets dominate an economy that generates few formal sector jobs.
Niger shares a common currency, the CFA franc, and a common central bank, the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO), with seven other members of the West African Monetary Union.
Drought cycles, desertification, a 3.4% population growth rate and the drop in world demand for uranium have undercut an already marginal economy. In these areas, Pearl millet, sorghum, and cassava are the principal rain-fed subsistence crops.
As one of the Sahelian nations in West Africa, Niger has faced several droughts which led to food shortages and, in some cases, famines since its independence in 1963. This includes a series of droughts in the 1970s and 1980s and more recently in 2005-2006 and again in 2010.
Of Niger's exports, foreign exchange earnings from livestock, although impossible to quantify, are second only to those from uranium.
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Economic map of Niger (1969). Peanut cultivation areas in purple, Rice in green, The remainder of agricultural land in orange.
Major Export Commodities
The 3 biggest exported products from Niger are uranium or thorium ores and concentrates, unwrought gold and processed petroleum oils.
Combined, that trio of leading exported goods represent well over four-fifths (85.8%) of Niger’s overall export revenues. Such a high percentage indicates a concentrated set of exported goods.
Niger's exports in 2023 represented by the following main commodity groups:
- Ores, slag and ash: US$204 million (43% of total exports)
- Gems, precious metals: US$110 million (23% of total exports)
- Mineral fuels: US$86 million (18.4% of total exports)
- Vegetables: US$16.5 million (3.54% of total exports)
- Machinery: US$10.4 million (2.22% of total exports)
- Railways, streetcars: US$6.51 million (1.39% of total exports)
- Vehicles: US$5.1 million (1.09% of total exports)
- Live animals: US$4.06 million (0.868% of total exports)
- Animal/vegetable fats, oils, waxes: US$3.17 million (0.678% of total exports)
- Oil seeds: US$2.42 million (0.519% of total exports)
At the more detailed four-digit Harmonized Tariff System code level, Niger’s most valuable goods in 2023 were uranium and thorium ores and concentrates at 43.7% of its global total. In second place was unwrought gold (23.7%), processed petroleum oils (18.4%), onions and shallots (2.5%), specially designed containers (1.4%), dried shelled vegetables (0.9%), heavy machinery including bulldozers, excavators and road rollers (0.7%), live bovine cattle (0.7%), palm oil (also 0.7%) then trucks (0.6%).
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The Niger mining industry is the main source of national exports, of which uranium is the largest export. Niger has been a uranium exporter since the 1960s and has had substantial export earnings and rapid economic growth during the 1960s and 1970s.
The persistent uranium price slump has brought lower revenues for Niger's uranium sector, although it still provides 72% of national export proceeds. The nation enjoyed substantial export earnings and rapid economic growth during the 1960s and 1970s after the opening of two large uranium mines near the northern town of Arlit.
When the uranium-led boom ended in the early 1980s the economy stagnated, and new investment since then has been limited.
In addition to uranium, exploitable deposits of gold are known to exist in Niger in the region between the Niger River and the border with Burkina Faso. In 2004, the first Nigerien gold ingot was produced from the Samira Hill Gold Mine, in Tera Department.
The Samira Hill Gold Mine thus became the first commercial gold production in the country. The reserves at the location were estimated at 10,073,626 tons at an average grade of 2.21 grams (0.078 oz) per ton from which 19,200 kilograms (42,300 lb) will be recovered over a six-year mine life.
The history of oil prospecting and discovery goes back to the independence era with the first discovery of the Tintouma oil field in Madama in 1975. With the sudden increase in oil price by 2008, this assessment was no longer true; consequently, the government transferred the Agadem block rights to CNPC.
Niger announced that in exchange for the US$5 billion investment, the Chinese company would build wells, 11 of which would open by 2012, a 20,000-barrel-per-day (3,200 m3/d) SORAZ refinery near Zinder, and a pipeline out of the nation. The government estimates the area has reserves of 324 million barrels (51,500,000 m3), and is seeking further oil in the Tenere Desert and near Bilma.
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Map and growing season for the Nigerien Rice crop.
Agriculture and Livestock
The agricultural economy is based largely upon internal markets, subsistence agriculture, and the export of raw commodities: foodstuffs and cattle to neighbors. Foreign exchange earnings from livestock, although difficult to quantify, are considered the second source of export revenue behind mining and oil exports.
Actual exports far exceed official statistics, which often fail to detect large herds of animals informally crossing into Nigeria. Niger's agricultural and livestock sectors are the mainstay of all but 18% of the population.
14% of Niger's GDP is generated by livestock production (camels, goats, sheep and cattle), said to support 29% of the population.
Cowpeas and onions are grown for commercial export, as are small quantities of garlic, peppers, potatoes, and wheat. But for the most part, rural residents engaged in crop tending are clustered in the south centre and south west of the nation, in those areas (the Sahel) which can expect to receive between 300 and 600 mm (12 and 24 in) of rainfall annually.
Niger's Major Trading Partners
The latest available country-specific data shows that 98.8% of products exported from Niger was bought by importers in: France (44.3% of Niger’s total), United Arab Emirates (21.3%), Mali (10.9%), Burkina Faso (7.6%), Chad (3.5%), Nigeria (3.1%), South Africa (2.5%), Ghana (2.4%), Germany (1.2%), Benin (1.1%), mainland China (0.5%) and Ivory Coast (0.3%).
From a continental perspective, 46.2% of Niger’s exports by value was delivered to European countries while 31.9% was sold to importers in fellow African countries. Niger shipped another 21.9% worth of goods to Asia, with just 0.04% going to buyers in North America.
| Year | GDP (in bil. US$ at nominal) | GDP per capita (in US$ at nominal) | GDP (in bil. US$ at PPP) | GDP per capita (in US$ at PPP) | Inflation rate (%, end of period) | Unemployment rate (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 2.32 | 362.42 | 5.42 | 845.73 | 7.04 | N/A |
| 1981 | 2.63 | 398.31 | 6.03 | 914.45 | 1.56 | N/A |
| 1982 | 2.55 | 375.06 | 6.46 | 949.79 | 7.77 | N/A |
| 2024 | 16.84 | 600 | 46.40 | 1600 | 2.6 | 0.33 |
| 2025 | 18.31 | 630 | 50.38 | 1700 | 2.5 | 0.33 |
| 2026 | 19.91 | 670 | 54.66 | 1800 | 2.5 | 0.33 |
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