GDP per person in Gaza equals only 58 cents a day, UN alert

“ O the collapse of Gaza’s economy is the most serious economic crisis ever recorded in the world, annihilating decades of development,” said the agency’s interim Secretary-General, Pedro Manuel Moreno, during a press conference in Geneva (Switzerland), on the occasion of the publication of a UNCTAD report, when almost three years of the military offensive launched by Israel in Palestinian territory are marked.

He stressed that “at present the GDP per capita in Gaza is 58 cents per person per day”, about 83% below the level already very low in 2022, “while the price level is 274% higher than 2022,” the year before the attack of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement against Israel on 7 October 2023, which prompted the great offensive launched by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip.

According to data from the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory, under the authority of Hamas, but considered reliable by the UN, the Israeli offensive displaced almost all the population of the Palestinian territory, damaged or destroyed most of the buildings and caused more than 73,000 deaths.

Since October 2025, a fragile ceasefire has been in place in the Gaza Strip, but its economy is in ruins, with the responsible for coordinating assistance to the Palestinian people of UNCTAD, Mutasim Elagraa, pointing out that, before October 2023, “two out of three inhabitants of Gaza lived in poverty”, and, “today, the entire population of Gaza is affected.”.

“In Gaza, the housing sector suffered the most serious damage, estimated at US$19 billion [about EUR 16.7 billion] by 2025,” industrial activity and agricultural production in Gaza have retreated by 94%, with 1.5% of the farmland exploited and accessible to date, which “implies total dependence on humanitarian food aid,” he said.

According to the report, which is based in particular on data from the World Bank and the Palestinian Central Statistical Office, “the conflict has destroyed hundreds of thousands of jobs”, resulting in a cumulative loss of estimated labour income of USD 2.8 billion (EUR 2.5 billion) since 2023.

Today, “more than 90% of Gaza’s working-age population is unemployed,” the United Nations agency points out, pointing out that Israel’s military operations have destroyed 92% of the economic facilities, so the estimate of the amount needed for the recovery and reconstruction of Gaza, currently in the order of USD 71.5 billion (EUR 62.8 billion), “is likely to increase further.”.

The report also details the aggravation of restrictions on economic activity in the West Bank, where there is “a reduced access to land and natural resources associated with the expansion of settlements”, which has also led to an increase in forced displacements.

“It will take the West Bank several years and Gaza much more than a decade to recover the level of GDP per head it had before the crisis,” the report says.

In today’s report, UNCTAD argues that once a “permanent ceasefire” is achieved, the international community should mobilise “large-scale” financial and technical aid to “return actively the momentum of backward development in these territories” for decades.