Somalia

The country card for Somalia: the growth identity’s three terms, population and output, external debt by creditor and the data-quality flag, each with its source.
SOM Mogadishu · East Africa Confidence: low
Growth-pole chapters
no growth-pole chapter
Pole types
none assigned
Regional communities
IGAD, COMESA, EAC, CEN-SAD
Currency
SOS (Sh.So.), dollarized
Official languages
so, ar

Population doublerWPP 2024 doubler; no Somaliland card (note here)

VintagesWEO April 2026WDI pulled 25 October 2026IDS 2025 (December 2025 release)WPP 2024, medium variantLast refreshed 25 October 2026About the data

The identity

GDP growth is output-per-worker growth plus growth in the employment-to-working-age ratio plus working-age population growth. All three are annual growth rates, so the bar adds.

0Output per worker: +1.05% a yearEmployment-to-working-age ratio: -0.09% a yearWorking-age population (15-64): +3.79% a yearimplied: +4.75% a yearimplied +4.75%observed: +2.83% a yearobserved +2.83%= 0.5 percentage points a year
Growth accounting over 2014-2024. Terms stack away from zero and add to the implied growth rate, which is marked against observed GDP growth on the same scale. A hatched block is a term not yet on the card: it is parked at the right, carries no width, and holds the sum back rather than letting a missing number pass as zero. Implied minus observed: +1.92 percentage points.
  • Output per worker+1.05%
  • Employment-to-working-age ratio-0.09%
  • Working-age population (15-64)+3.79%
  • Observed GDP growth+2.83%
  • Implied (the three terms summed)+4.75%
Overlay (beside the bar, never inside it) Value
Wage employment share 47.8%
Non-agricultural employment share 69.7%
Employment rate, women 15.6%
Employment rate, men 39.6%
Youth not in employment, education or training 51.0%
Productivity growth, within-sector not yet fetched
Productivity growth, between-sector not yet fetched
Wage employment source ILO-modelled-employees

Generative-AI exposure: 1.4 percent of employment in the most exposed occupations (gradient 4 of the ILO's 2025 index). This is the book's estimate, not an ILO figure: the index's occupation gradients weighted by labour-force survey employment in two-digit occupation groups, 2019. Beside the bar, never inside it: it is a share, not a growth rate.

Population path

19.0m202437.2m205067.4m2100
Total population, three WPP 2024 medium-variant anchor years. The cards carry totals only, not age structure, so this is a path and not a pyramid.
  • Population, 202419.0 million
  • Population, 205037.2 million
  • Population, 210067.4 million
  • Median age15.5 years
  • Total fertility rate6.01 births per woman
  • Dependency ratio96.8 per 100 of working age

Output

Levels are the IMF’s April 2026 estimates for 2025, with the World Bank’s most recent published year standing in where the IMF publishes no figure for this country. Observed growth is over the same window as the identity above, and the forecast runs five years out.

Field Value
GDP $13.0bn
GDP per capita $764
GDP at PPP $32.3bn
Observed GDP growth +2.83%
GDP growth, five-year forecast +3.48%
Urban share 55.1%
Informal employment share 81.9%
Largest city Mogadishu
Largest city population 2.1 million
Largest city population, 2050 2.8 million

External debt

Multilateral: $0.23bnOther bilateral: $0.44bnNot split by the IDS creditor classes: $1.13bn$0bn$1.8bn
External debt by creditor class, IDS 2025. The classes shown cover $0.66bn of a $1.80bn stock; the grey remainder is debt the IDS creditor split does not assign here. A creditor class with no bar is one not yet on the card; it is not a zero. The bar stacks the three classes that divide publicly guaranteed debt by type of creditor and add up to it. The three lines below the rule cut the same total a different way, so they belong inside it and never beside it.
  • Multilateral$0.2bn
  • Other bilateral$0.4bn
  • Other privatenot yet fetched
  • Eurobonds, of which bonds, inside other privatenot yet fetched
  • Paris Club, of which owed to Paris Club members, across all three$0.0bn
  • China, of which owed to China, across all threenot yet fetched
  • Total external debt stock$1.8bn
IDS 2025, debt owed to Chinanot yet fetchedBU CLA, cumulative commitmentsnot yet fetched
The gap between the two is not yet computable: one of the two series is still null. They are different things in any case -- IDS records debt outstanding, the BU database records loan commitments -- so the card sets them side by side rather than netting them.
  • IDS 2025, owed to Chinanot yet fetched
  • BU CLA, cumulative commitmentsnot yet fetched
Field Value
Debt service due 2026-2030 $0.1bn
Eurobonds outstanding not yet fetched
Restructuring status other
Collateralized or resource-backed debt not yet fetched
S&P rating not yet fetched
Moody's rating not yet fetched
Fitch rating not yet fetched

Exports and the balance sheet

Field Value
Top three exports Crude vegetable materials, n.e.s. (SITC 292): 26.0%; Live animals other than animals of division 03 (SITC 001): 23.0%; Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits (excluding flour) (SITC 222): 11.3%
Commodity dependence 87.1%
Remittances received not yet fetched
Foreign direct investment $0.8bn
Official development assistance $2.3bn
AfCFTA status signed
PAPSS member no
Afrobarometer lived poverty index not yet fetched

Data quality

Last census 1975. Last GDP rebase not recorded. Last labour-force survey 2019. SPI 51.7. Reports to the IMF under e-GDDS. Confidence: low.The rule: high means a census within fifteen years, an SPI score of 70 or better and a labour-force survey within five years; one failure is medium, two or more failures or a census before 2000 is low, and the flag is left uncomputed when one of the three inputs is itself missing (the rule, and the reasons to argue with it, on the About the data page).

Field Value
WPP estimate basis not recorded
Climate vulnerability high
Fragility FCS: conflict

Census: the 1975 population and housing census, which counted 4.1 million people, is the last enumeration whose results were published; a further census was taken in 1985-86 but never released. Everything since rests on the Population Estimation Survey (PESS) 2013-2014, run explicitly because a full census was not feasible (https://microdata.nbs.gov.so/index.php/catalog/4/study-description), and on the census the federal government launched in May 2023, the first in nearly fifty years, which has not yet produced a count (https://www.voanews.com/a/somalia-launches-first-census-in-nearly-50-years/7075678.html). The field is dated 1975 under the rule that a country with no census since independence carries the last one actually held. LFS: Somali Labour Force Survey 2019 (SNBS with the Ministry of Labour and the ILO). Rebase: an IMF technical-assistance mission supported moving the base year from 2017 to 2022, but no NSO publication year was sourced.

The shelf

The latest reports on this country from the Fund and the Bank. Each line under “what it argued” is the publisher's own summary, quoted, not a paraphrase; where a summary says nothing the line is blank. A country with no Article IV consultation in the last three years says so, with the report that establishes it.

Report What it argued
IMF Article IV2024 Article IV Consultation and Second Review Under the Extended Credit FacilityIMF · December 2024 · No. 2024/346Ch. 21 “This paper highlights Somalia’s 2024 Article IV Consultation and Second Review under the Extended Credit Facility.”IMF, abstract of Country Report No. 2024/346
IMF Selected IssuesSelected IssuesIMF · December 2024 · No. 2024/347Ch. 10 “This Selected Issues the state of educational attainment in Somalia and explores the potential growth dividends from increasing access to education and closing gender gaps in education.”IMF, abstract of Country Report No. 2024/347
World Bank country updateSomalia Economic Update : Boosting Domestic Revenue Mobilization - To Enhance Service Delivery and…World Bank · 27 June 2025 · No. 202596Ch. 10Ch. 21 “Somalia continues to make important strides in advancing its economy and institutions.”World Bank, abstract of report no. 202596 in Documents & Reports

Sources

Numbers on this card were last refreshed on 25 October 2026.

Release behind this card Last pulled
African Union AfCFTA signature and ratification register 25 October 2026
Africapolis 2025 25 October 2026
ILO modelled estimates, November 2025 25 October 2026
IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026 13 September 2026
ND-GAIN Country Index, 2026 release 25 October 2026
PAPSS Payments Network Coverage sheet 25 October 2026
UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant Not recorded
UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix 25 October 2026
World Bank Group FY26 list of fragile and conflict-affected situations 25 October 2026
World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025 25 October 2026
World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators 25 October 2026
World Bank World Development Indicators 25 October 2026
World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows 25 October 2026
hand-entered Not pulled
derived here from the three identity terms Not pulled
Field on this page Where the number comes from
AfCFTA status African Union AfCFTA signature and ratification register (22/05/2026)
Climate vulnerability ND-GAIN Country Index, 2026 release, 2024 observation
Commodity dependence UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix, 2025 observation
Debt service due 2026-2030 World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025 (2026-2030)
Dependency ratio UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Employment rate, men ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Employment rate, women ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Employment-to-working-age growth ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
External debt stock World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Foreign direct investment World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2025 observation
Fragility World Bank Group FY26 list of fragile and conflict-affected situations
GDP IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
GDP at PPP IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
GDP growth, five-year forecast IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2030 observation
GDP per capita IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2025 observation
Identity window UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
IMF dissemination standard Hand-entered, cited to www.imf.org/en/news/articles/2022/06/17/pr22211-s…
Implied GDP growth derived here from the three identity terms
Informal employment share ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2019 observation
Largest city Africapolis 2025, 2025 observation
Largest city population Africapolis 2025, 2025 observation
Largest city population, 2050 Africapolis 2025, 2050 observation
Last census Hand-entered, cited to somalia.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/Pop…
Last labour-force survey Hand-entered, cited to nbs.gov.so/somali-labor-force-survey-2019/
Median age UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Non-agricultural employment share ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Observed GDP growth IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026, 2024 observation
Official development assistance World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2023 observation
Output per worker growth ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Owed to multilaterals World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Owed to other bilaterals World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025
Owed to Paris Club creditors World Bank International Debt Statistics 2025, 2024 observation
PAPSS member PAPSS Payments Network Coverage sheet (June 2026)
Population, 2024 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Population, 2050 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Population, 2100 UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Restructuring status Hand-entered, cited to clubdeparis.org/en/communications/press-release/s…
Statistical Performance Indicators score World Bank Statistical Performance Indicators
Top three exports UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix, 2025 observation
Total fertility rate UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Urban share World Bank World Development Indicators, 2025 observation
Wage employment share ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Wage employment source ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2024 observation
Working-age population growth (15-64) UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant
Youth not in employment, education or training ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2022 observation

Card schema african-economic-future/country_card/v1, built 2026-10-25. The release behind each key, and the day each was last pulled, are listed on the About the data page, and the record behind this page is one of the fifty-four in cards.csv and cards.json.

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