Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone: Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality was 6.3% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality in Sierra Leone, 1981–2023
Source: UNU-WIDER Government Revenue Dataset (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in % of GDP.
Analysis
In 2023, tax revenue as share of gdp vs. income inequality in Sierra Leone stood at 6.3%.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 6.8% on the previous year and down 12.5% over ten years.
Over the whole period, tax revenue as share of gdp vs. income inequality in Sierra Leone peaked at 7.8% in 2019 and was at its lowest, 1.1%, in 1986.
Sierra Leone ranks 176th of 187 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 42 years of available data.
Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality in Sierra Leone, year by year
| Year | % of GDP | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | 5.9% | — |
| 1982 | 4.3% | -27.5% |
| 1983 | 2.7% | -37.7% |
| 1984 | 2.3% | -12.8% |
| 1985 | 1.8% | -22.9% |
| 1986 | 1.1% | -37.6% |
| 1987 | 2.2% | +97.2% |
| 1988 | 1.9% | -13.8% |
| 1989 | 2.0% | +2.5% |
| 1990 | 3.4% | +75.7% |
| 1991 | 3.3% | -3.8% |
| 1992 | 4.4% | +31.4% |
| 1993 | 5.2% | +18.8% |
| 1994 | 5.2% | +1.4% |
| 1995 | 3.9% | -25.1% |
| 1996 | 4.3% | +9.0% |
| 1998 | 3.1% | -27.7% |
| 1999 | 3.0% | -2.9% |
| 2000 | 4.7% | +55.1% |
| 2001 | 5.9% | +25.8% |
| 2002 | 5.6% | -4.6% |
| 2003 | 5.4% | -3.3% |
| 2004 | 5.5% | +1.2% |
| 2005 | 4.9% | -10.2% |
| 2006 | 5.1% | +3.5% |
| 2007 | 5.0% | -2.7% |
| 2008 | 5.0% | +1.6% |
| 2009 | 5.1% | +1.8% |
| 2010 | 5.6% | +8.5% |
| 2011 | 6.6% | +19.0% |
| 2012 | 7.1% | +6.8% |
| 2013 | 7.2% | +2.1% |
| 2014 | 7.0% | -2.6% |
| 2015 | 6.3% | -10.2% |
| 2016 | 7.2% | +13.1% |
| 2017 | 7.1% | -1.3% |
| 2018 | 7.5% | +6.5% |
| 2019 | 7.8% | +3.2% |
| 2020 | 7.0% | -9.6% |
| 2021 | 7.5% | +6.2% |
| 2022 | 5.9% | -20.5% |
| 2023 | 6.3% | +6.8% |
Sierra Leone compared with similar countries
- Sierra Leone's 6.3% is below the median for low income countries, which is 9.5%, 67% of the median. (21 countries reporting)
- Sierra Leone's 6.3% is below the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 13.5%, 47% of the median. (45 countries reporting)
Biggest year-on-year movements
Years where Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality in Sierra Leone changed far more than this series normally does. A large move can be a real event or a change in how the figure was measured — the source note below says who published it.
| Year | Change | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | +97.2% | 1.1% | 2.2% |
| 1990 | +75.7% | 2.0% | 3.4% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 2.7% | 1.1% | 5.9% | 9 |
| 1990s | 4.0% | 3.0% | 5.2% | 9 |
| 2000s | 5.2% | 4.7% | 5.9% | 10 |
| 2010s | 6.9% | 5.6% | 7.8% | 10 |
| 2020s | 6.7% | 5.9% | 7.5% | 4 |
Countries ranked near Sierra Leone
More poverty & inequality data for Sierra Leone
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 1 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 3.79 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 1,470 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate -25.13 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 6.33 (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, annual growth rate 6.84 % change on previous year (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is tax revenue as share of gdp vs. income inequality in Sierra Leone?
- Tax revenue as share of gdp vs. income inequality in Sierra Leone was 6.3% in 2023, according to UNU-WIDER Government Revenue Dataset (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest tax revenue as share of gdp vs. income inequality recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The highest recorded value was 7.8% in 2019.
- What is the lowest tax revenue as share of gdp vs. income inequality recorded in Sierra Leone?
- The lowest recorded value was 1.1% in 1986.
- How does Sierra Leone rank for tax revenue as share of gdp vs. income inequality?
- Sierra Leone ranks 176th out of 187 countries with data for 2023.
- Is tax revenue as share of gdp vs. income inequality rising or falling in Sierra Leone?
- Over the last ten years it is down 12.5%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Sierra Leone data come from?
- The figures come from UNU-WIDER Government Revenue Dataset (2025) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 42 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Taxes include direct and indirect taxes as well as social contributions. The Gini coefficient measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality.