South Sudan
No post-independence census
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.
- Output per worker-4.70%
- Employment-to-working-age ratio-0.44%
- Working-age population (15-64)+1.17%
- Observed GDP growth-5.45%
- Implied (the three terms summed)-3.98%
| Overlay (beside the bar, never inside it) | Value |
|---|---|
| Wage employment share | 17.4% |
| Non-agricultural employment share | 36.2% |
| Employment rate, women | 60.8% |
| Employment rate, men | 68.1% |
| Youth not in employment, education or training | not yet fetched |
| Productivity growth, within-sector | not yet fetched |
| Productivity growth, between-sector | not yet fetched |
| Wage employment source | ILO-modelled-employees |
Generative-AI exposure: not yet fetched. The share of employment in the occupations the ILO's index places in the automation band sits beside the bar, never inside it: it is a share, not a growth rate.
Population path
- Population, 202411.9 million
- Population, 205018.3 million
- Population, 210023.8 million
- Median age18.3 years
- Total fertility rate3.79 births per woman
- Dependency ratio72.1 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 | $5.7bn |
| GDP per capita | $470 |
| GDP at PPP | $17.9bn |
| Observed GDP growth | -5.45% |
| GDP growth, five-year forecast | +3.67% |
| Urban share | 21.7% |
| Informal employment share | not yet fetched |
| Largest city | not yet fetched |
| Largest city population | not yet fetched |
| Largest city population, 2050 | not yet fetched |
External debt
- Multilateralnot yet fetched
- Other bilateralnot yet fetched
- Other privatenot yet fetched
- Eurobonds, of which bonds, inside other privatenot yet fetched
- Paris Club, of which owed to Paris Club members, across all threenot yet fetched
- China, of which owed to China, across all threenot yet fetched
- Total external debt stocknot yet fetched
- IDS 2025, owed to Chinanot yet fetched
- BU CLA, cumulative commitments$0.4bn
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Debt service due 2026-2030 | not yet fetched |
| Eurobonds outstanding | not yet fetched |
| Restructuring status | none |
| Collateralized or resource-backed debt | 3 resource-backed loans recorded, 2015-2016, all oil-backed |
| 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 | Petroleum oils, oils from bitumin. materials, crude (SITC 333): 79.1%; Feeding stuff for animals (no unmilled cereals) (SITC 081): 4.9%; Gold, non-monetary (excluding gold ores and concentrates) (SITC 971): 4.9% |
| Commodity dependence | 98.8% |
| Remittances received | $1.2bn |
| Foreign direct investment | $0.1bn |
| Official development assistance | $1.8bn |
| AfCFTA status | signed |
| PAPSS member | no |
| Afrobarometer lived poverty index | not yet fetched |
Data quality
Last census 2008. Last GDP rebase not recorded. Last labour-force survey not recorded. SPI 27.1. Subscribes to no IMF dissemination standard. Confidence: not yet computable.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 | not recorded |
| Fragility | FCS: conflict |
Census: the 5th Sudan Population and Housing Census, census day 22 April 2008, enumerated the ten southern states at 8,260,490; it remains the most recent enumeration and predates independence. The 2021 Population Estimation Survey was a survey, not a census. LFS: left null because South Sudan has never run a labour force survey. ILOSTAT lists the 2008 census as the latest household source and carries only modelled estimates; the country's first Labour Force and Migration Survey, for 2025-26, was still in pre-test in Juba between December 2025 and January 2026 (https://www.ilo.org/resource/article/testing-methodology-and-digital-systems-labour-force-and-migration-survey). The World Bank High Frequency Survey wave 4 (2017) carries an employment module but is not a labour force survey (https://microdata.worldbank.org/index.php/catalog/2916). This is a null that means never measured, not unknown. Rebase and dissemination standard: not sourced; dsbb.imf.org is blocked from this environment.
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 IV2023 Article IV Consultation, and First and Second Reviews under the Staff-Monitored Program with Board…Ch. 21 | “This paper presents Republic of South Sudan’s 2023 Article IV Consultation, and First and Second Reviews under the Staff-Monitored Program with Board Involvement (PMB).”IMF, abstract of Country Report No. 2024/160 |
| World Bank country updateSouth Sudan Economic Monitor, Seventh Edition : A Pathway to Overcome the CrisisCh. 21 | “South Sudan’s socio-economic outcomes have worsened over the past decade due to recurrent conflicts, fragility, and macroeconomic mismanagement compounded by global economic and climate shocks.”World Bank, abstract of report no. 197920 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 |
| Boston University Chinese Loans to Africa database, 2000-2024 | 25 October 2026 |
| ILO modelled estimates, November 2025 | 25 October 2026 |
| IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026 | 13 September 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 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) |
| Chinese loan commitments, cumulative | Boston University Chinese Loans to Africa database, 2000-2024 |
| Collateralized or resource-backed debt | Hand-entered, cited to documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/3699316438298… |
| Commodity dependence | UNCTADstat merchandise trade matrix, 2025 observation |
| Dependency ratio | UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant |
| Employment rate, men | ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2023 observation |
| Employment rate, women | ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2023 observation |
| Employment-to-working-age growth | ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2023 observation |
| 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 absent from https://dsbb.imf.org/sdds/subscriptio… |
| Implied GDP growth | derived here from the three identity terms |
| Last census | Hand-entered, cited to nbs.gov.ss/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/South-Sudan… |
| Median age | UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant |
| Non-agricultural employment share | ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2023 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, 2023 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 |
| Remittances received | World Bank World Development Indicators, cross-border flows, 2023 observation |
| Restructuring status | Hand-entered, cited to clubdeparis.org/en/sites/clubdeparis/accueil/pays… |
| 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, 2023 observation |
| Wage employment source | ILO modelled estimates, November 2025, 2023 observation |
| Working-age population growth (15-64) | UN World Population Prospects 2024, medium variant |
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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