Nicaragua

Nicaragua climbed 2 places to 129th in 2025, now between Mozambique and Niger. US$ GDP rose 12.9% to US$22.2 billion on real growth of +4.9%; the 8.0-percentage-point gap was mostly exchange-rate and price effects, not output.

Services account for 45.2% of output and industry 29.3%, with agriculture at 14.5% and manufacturing at 12.6%. Inflation was 2.1%, unemployment 5.0% and government gross debt 34.6% of GDP.

With 7.0 million people, output per person is US$3,173, 142nd of 196, and $9,284 international dollars on a purchasing-power basis, 138th. Nicaragua is the 23rd largest of 35 economies in Latin America & Caribbean and about the size of the Youngstown, OH metro area.

The ranking has slipped over the long run even as the economy grew. GDP has risen 4.4x since 2000, when it stood at US$5.1 billion and ranked 117th. The IMF projects US$35.1 billion by 2030, a rise of +58% that would place Nicaragua 121st among economies with forecasts.