The standard of life in Burkina Faso

Is it good to live in Burkina Faso? Let’s look at different indicators, characterizing the level and quality of life in this country.

The income and wealth of population

The crime rate

The quality of medicine and population health

Alcohol consumption and smoking

How much Burkinas are satisfiedу by their life

The income and population wealth of Burkina Faso

The most important indicator which allows us to evaluate the level of economic development of the country is gross domestic product per capita. According to 2024 data, GDP, calculated by purchasing power parity, makes in Burkina Faso 2,82 thousand dollars per capita (for comparison, on average in the world - about 20,4 thousand dollars).

The average gross salary (before taxes) makes 89 thousand CFA francs ($159) per month.

The indicators, characterizing the level of population provision, also include the motorization rate. Every 1000 of Burkinas have 16 cars of different kinds.

The crime rate in Burkina Faso up↑

One can size up population law-abidingness and law enforcement activity with the help of data about the number of murders and about the number of prisoners.

Every year in Burkina Faso there are 1.30 premeditated murders per 100 thousand of people.

As of 2023 year, in prisons and criminal camps of Burkina Faso there are 7.62 thousand prisoners, or 37 inmates per 100 000 of people.

Population health up↑

The average life expectancy in Burkina Faso is 62.7 years (60.1 years among men and 65.2 years among women). For comparison, the average life expectancy in the world is 67,2 years (65 years among men and 69,5 years among women).

To get an idea about the nation’s health, one should look at prevalence rates of some dangerous diseases.

According to the World Health Organization data (WHO), the number of HIV-infected in Burkina Faso is 100000 people, or 0.43% of population.

Tuberculosis has been found in 9600 Burkinas (47 people per 100 000 of population).

Every year in Burkina Faso among 100 000 of people one finds 112 new episodes of cancer and records 84.4 lethal cases from it. The yearly ratio of lethal episodes to the number of new cases is (The lower the ratio is, the higher the amount of the cured is; respectively, it means that the local health care system works better).

Alcohol consumption and smoking up↑

The exposure of the population to bad habits can also be referred to the integral part of the life quality in the country. It’s considered that in general it’s more comfortable to live where they smoke and drink less.

Lately on average the annual alcohol consumption in Burkina Faso has been about 12 of liters of pure alcohol per one person older than 15 years old (about 20.2 liters per one man and 4.2 liters per one woman).

What do Burkinas drink? According to the statistics, the beer content in the total amount of alcohol consumption is 10%, the wine content is 3%, the hard liquor content (vodka, cognac, etc.) is 3.1%, the content of other drinks (including homemade ones of different kinds and their alcohol strengths) is 83.8%.

On a constant base in Burkinas there are 14,3 % adult smokers, among them there are 22,5 % adult men and 6 % women. On average tobacco consumption makes 408 cigarettes per person during one year.

How much are the people satisfied by their lives in the country?     up↑

It might be difficult to choose the indicator which can help to define how much the people of this or that country are satisfied by their lives. It’s easier to estimate the living conditions, the ability or failure to meet basic needs of the population.

For example, the UN experts have developed a so-called "happiness index", which shows how the state achievements are able to provide citizens with a happy life. As of 2023 year, in Burkina Faso this index was 4.638.

Besides, there is a well-known integral indicator, used by the UN, - Human Development Index (HDI) which fully takes into the account different reasons to feel comfortable. According to 2022, HDI in Burkina Faso was equal to 0.449.

One can indirectly evaluate the people’s satisfaction by their lives with the help of the number of suicides. It comes logically that the better their lives are organized, the fewer reasons to commit a suicide they have. Every year in Burkina Faso per 100 000 of people, there are 14,4 suicides (24,5) among men and 6,5 among women).

Do you want to compare Burkina Faso with other countries with such indicators as the area of the territory, population, economy, the standard of living, etc? Fill in the gaps below with the country and choose the criteria: