In summary
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Benedict Kolubah, a critic of the Boakai administration, has claimed that the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) reports that 60.6% of Liberians, or about 3.4 million people, are living in poverty.
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Our review of the 2026 BTI Country Report confirmed that the figure is reported by BTI and is based on the share of Liberians living below the international poverty line of US$3.65 per day (2017 PPP). Still, the underlying data was collected in 2016 and does not reflect current conditions.
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The latest World Bank assessment estimates that 59.7% of Liberians were living below the national poverty line in 2023, affecting about 3.1 million people.
On July 1, Benedict Kolubah, former Assistant Minister for Development Planning at the Ministry of Finance, claimed on OK Conversation and in a Facebook post that the Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) reports that 60.6% of Liberia’s population is living in poverty, representing about 3.4 million Liberians.
Kolubah made the claim during a debate while responding to an opposing argument, noting that the BTI data was referenced in Table 4 of the ARREST Agenda.
In the ARREST Agenda, the 2024 Bertelsmann Transformation Index (BTI) is cited in relation to Liberia’s governance and economic performance. The document notes that despite several challenges, Liberia continues to make progress in the governance space, ranking 47th out of 137 countries on the BTI Status Index with a score of 6.25.
On Economic Transformation, Liberia ranked 105th out of 137 countries with a score of 4.07, while on the Governance Index, the country scored 4.93 and ranked 59th out of 137 countries.
The Claim
An excerpt of Kolubah’s claim on Facebook reads: “Today, according to the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index-BTI 2026 report, about 60.6% of Liberians live in poverty, translating to about 3.4 million of the 5.6 million people, compared to 3.2 million and 3.2 million in 2024 and 2023, respectively.”
Rating Justification
To verify this claim, we reviewed the 2026 BTI Country Report on Liberia, as well as data from the World Bank, the source of the poverty estimates cited by the BTI.
The BTI is a global assessment published every two years by the German foundation Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Our review found that the BTI does report that 60.6% of Liberia’s population lives below the international poverty line of US$3.65 per day at 2017 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
However, the BTI report indicates that this estimate is based on data collected in 2016 and therefore does not reflect the current poverty situation of the country.
In the report, the BTI notes that “as of 2016 (there is no more recent data), 60.6% of the population was living on less than $3.65 a day, at 2017 international prices adjusted for purchasing power parity.”
We also reviewed the World Bank’s latest poverty assessments, which show that approximately 59.7% of Liberians were living below the national poverty line in 2023.
In its 2024 Liberia Poverty Assessment, the World Bank noted that poverty remains a major challenge, affecting nearly six out of every 10 Liberians.
The report estimates that about 3.1 million Liberians live in poverty, including roughly 1 million people living in extreme poverty.
Additionally, the World Bank, in its October 2025 Poverty & Equity Brief, said that since 2022, poverty has started to decline but is projected to remain below 50% in 2025.
According to the World Bank, the “recovery has been aided by stronger macroeconomic conditions—sustained GDP growth, moderating inflation, and ongoing economic reforms.”
Conclusion
Based on the available evidence, we conclude that Benedict Kolubah’s claim that the BTI reports that 60.6% of Liberians are living in poverty is out of context. The figure he cited was derived from data collected in 2016 and should not be interpreted as a current measure of poverty in Liberia.
According to the World Bank’s 2025 Poverty & Equity Brief for Liberia, poverty has been declining since 2022 and is projected to remain below 50 percent in the coming years.
