Libya
Libya: an outright decline in dollar terms, 1980–2024
Africa's largest proven oil reserves gave Libya one of the continent's higher income levels under Muammar Gaddafi, but since his 2011 overthrow, civil conflict and rival governments have made oil output, and therefore GDP, swing wildly from year to year. Between 1980 and 2024, Libya's GDP per capita grew from $11,960 to $6,569 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of -1.4% — an outright decline in dollar terms. Annual GDP growth averaged 1.3% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 18.7 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 5.2% to 2.4% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 21.5% to 28.3% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 64.8 to 71.1 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 4.7% to 58.5%, while the urban population share grew from 70.5% to 87.9%.
What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 8.33 to 8.66 tonnes CO2e per person.
What it trades
Top exported and imported products, approximate share of total trade value.
Top exports
Top imports
Events shaping this economy
Central bank perspective
Why the charts below look the way they do, drawing on the country’s own central bank and monetary authority.