Country rankings
Countries with Universal Basic Income
Countries with Universal Basic Income: compare 38 countries on 4 metrics.
Economics38 countries · 4 metricsUpdated Jan 12, 2025Original page
10 sources
- Will Universal Income Ever Work? - U.S. News
- Universal Basic Income Had a Rough Start - Technology Review
- Universal basic income: pilot programs and experiments- Wiki
- Universal basic income around the world - Wiki
- Money for nothing: the truth about universal basic income - Nature
- Basic income pilot scheme for care leavers to be trialled in Wales - Guardian
- The Stanford Basic Income Lab (BIL
- 13 countries with active universal basic income and guaranteed basic income programs - Business Insider
- Visualizing UBI Research - Stanford Basic Income Lab
- Everywhere basic income has been tried, in one map - Vox
Type
10 values across 38 entries
Start Date
16 values across 22 entries
End Date
11 values across 22 entries
Data
Click a column to sort.
38 countries
 Australia | Discussed | — | — | Basic income is supported by academics and political parties, including Queensland Greens, Fusion Party, and Greens NSW. Proposals include a universal payment of $500/week for adults, with potential top-ups for pensioners, disabled, and carers. No national program has been imp… |
 Belgium | Discussed | — | — | Basic income has been promoted by the Vivant movement and philosopher Philippe Van Parijs, with a Belgian BIEN-affiliated network founded in 2012; no national UBI program has been implemented. |
 Brazil | Welfare and pilot | 2,004 | ongoing | Bolsa Família is a welfare program passed in 2004 and implemented in stages, which gives roughly 26% of the population a monthly payment equivalent to just under 1/5 of minimum wage. Surveys indicate the money is spent on (in order of importance) food, school supplies, clothin… |
 Bulgaria | Discussed | — | — | The Bulgarian Union for Direct Democracy party, founded in 2014, included basic income in its platform, but no national UBI program has been implemented. |
 Canada | Pilot | 2017-10 | 2019-03 | An early pilot program that ran from 1974-1978 showed increased school attendance, decreased hospitalizations, and no change in unemployment rates. Amore recent 2017 test program provided roughly 4,000 people with monthly stipend equivalent to roughly $17,000 CAD (about $13,00… |
 Czechia | Discussed | — | — | Universal basic income has been promoted by academics, activists, and several political parties including the Greens, Communists, Pirates, and Democratic Socialists, as well as supported by various NGOs; no national UBI program exists. |
 Estonia | Discussed | — | — | Basic income has been discussed in Estonia by the Estonian Free Party and other civic groups, as well as via European Citizens’ Initiative campaigns. Parliamentary committees have reviewed proposals, but no concrete implementation has occurred. |
 Finland | Pilot | 2,017 | 2,018 | Trial program gave 2,000 unemployed adults a monthly grant. Parliament declined to fund it past 2018. |
 France | Discussed | — | — | Basic income is supported by various politicians, economists, and think tanks, with proposals ranging from €400–750 per person per month; no national UBI program has been implemented. |
 Germany | Nonprofit | 2,014 | ongoing | Germany hosts nonprofit basic income initiatives, including Mein Grundeinkommen, which provides raffle-based cash payments to winners. Political debate continues, and the first city-level referendum on UBI will be held in Hamburg in 2025; no national program exists. |
 Greece | Discussed | — | — | Basic income is promoted by some economists and political figures, including proposals for a basic pension scheme and a universal basic dividend funded by capital returns; no national UBI program exists. |
 Hungary | Discussed | — | — | Basic income is promoted by the FNA Group and the Hungarian Pirate Party. A 2014 proposal suggested monthly payments to adults and children, but it received no significant political support and no national UBI program exists. |
 Iceland | Discussed | — | — | The Icelandic Pirate Party proposed a parliamentary resolution in 2014 to explore an unconditional basic income for all citizens; no national UBI program has been implemented. |
 India | Pilot | 2011-06 | ongoing | Trials lasting 12 and 18 months tested effect of a UBI program amounting to 20-30% of a normal low income on a total of 6,000 people. Findings showed decrease in illness, improved school attendance and financial stability, and higher employment, with no corresponding increase … |
 Iran | Full | 2,010 | ongoing | In 2011, Iran rolled out a nationwide unconditional cash transfer program to compensate for the phase-out of subsidies on bread, water, electricity, heating, and fuel. The government gave out sizable monthly payments to each family: 29 percent of the median household income on… |
 Ireland | Pilot | 2,022 | 2,026 | Considered, but not yet implemented as of 2022. The Irish Government is running a Basic Income for the Arts pilot program. Any artist in Ireland could apply for the program, and 2,000 eligible people were randomly selected in 2022. The program provides a stipend of $350 a week… |
 Israel | Nonprofit | 2,018 | ongoiing | In 2018, Israel's non-profit GoodDollar started building a global economic framework for universal, sustainable, and scalable universal basic income using blockchain technology. The project raised $1 million from eToro and involved a peer-to-peer money transfer network based o… |
 Japan | Pivate / pilot | 2,020 | short-term | Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced in a January 1 tweet that he would give away 1 billion Japanese yen — about $9 million — to 1,000 random Twitter followers. His stated goal was to test the premise of a basic income. |
 Kenya | Pilot / nonprofit | 2,017 | ongoing | Test program gives monthly grants of approx. 1/4-1/2 average income. Scheduled to run until 2030. GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that runs basic income programs globally, has led a basic income pilot in Kenya since 2017. The program provides universal basic income to individuals in… |
 Latvia | Discussed | — | — | Basic income has been discussed by civil society groups and through European Citizens’ Initiative campaigns, but no national universal basic income program has been implemented. |
 Liberia | Pilot | 2,022 | ongoing | In 2022, GiveDirectly launched a universal basic income pilot in Liberia, in the country's southeastearn Maryland County. The program has reached 13,795 recipients, according to GiveDirectly. Villages in Liberia are randomly targeted, and all individuals receive monthly paymen… |
 Lithuania | Discussed | — | — | Basic income has been considered in Lithuania’s policy discourse, with research and debate on its feasibility and potential to reduce poverty. However, no national UBI program has been implemented. |
 Macau | Full | 2,008 | ongoing | Macau residents who hold a valid government-issued ID are given an annual payment to help compensate for the cost of inflation. |
 Marshall Islands | Full | 2,025 | ongoing | Quarterly unconditional payments (~$200) to all citizens funded by a trust supporting cost‑of‑living relief |
 Namibia | Pilot | 2008-01 | 2009-12 | Pilot program in two villages paid roughly 8% of average income. Significantly reduced child malnutrition, increased school attendance, boosted community income, decreased theft. |
 Netherlands | Pilot | 2,017 | 2,019 | In 2017, Utrecht and a few surrounding cities kicked off a basic income experiment with 250 recipients as part of a randomized controlled trial. Some recipients got the money (around $1,050 per month) unconditionally, while others had to do volunteer work. |
 New Zealand | Discussed | — | — | Basic income has been debated by the Labour Party and other advocates as a potential replacement for existing welfare, emphasizing seamless income support and reduced bureaucracy. No national program has been implemented. |
 Norway | Discussed | — | — | Basic income is promoted by political parties including the Greens and Pirates, with historical support from the Red, Democrats, and Liberal Party. The NGO BIEN Norge advocates for UBI, but no national program exists. |
 Portugal | Discussed | — | — | Basic income is supported by political parties LIVRE, PAN, and Volt Portugal; no national UBI program has been implemented. |
 South Africa | COVID-19 relief | 2020-05 | 2020-10 | Issued small grants to citizens of working age who had no other governmental support. |
 South Korea | Partial | 2,016 | ongoing | Issues quarterly "allowance" to citizens of Gyeonggi province aged 24 or older; can only be used in local businesses. The Safety Income Project is a guaranteed income policy pilot in Seoul, South Korea. The program was launched in 2022 and is managed by the Seoul city governme… |
 Spain | Pilot | 2,017 | 2,019 | Spain conducted the “B-MINCOME” experiment from 2017 to 2019, providing a minimum guaranteed income to 1,000 households in Barcelona’s poorest districts; political and civil society advocacy for broader UBI continues, but no national program has been implemented. |
 Sweden | Discussed | — | — | Swedbank, a Swedish bank, included a piece about basic income in the Baltic region in its Macro Research Report in December 2017 After having discussed the potential pros and cons with basic income, and after having dismissed the idea of a full basic income, because of the cos… |
 Switzerland | Pilot | 2,016 | 2,016 | Switzerland held a nationwide referendum in 2016 on a proposed UBI of 2,500 CHF per adult and 625 CHF per child. The initiative, promoted by BIEN-Switzerland and Initiative Grundeinkommen, gathered enough signatures to trigger the vote but was rejected by 77% of voters; no nat… |
 Togo | Welfare | 2,020 | ongoing | Novissi was launched in 2020 and originally focused on workers in urban areas impacted by COVID-19. Since then, it's expanded to rural areas and targets low-income workers. Men and women receive $19.41 and $64.70 bi-monthly, respectively, according to Stanford Basic Income Lab… |
 Ukraine | Discussed | — | — | Basic income is promoted by private initiatives, such as the Nimses project, which gives participants a daily allocation of 1,440 “nims” (time-based currency); no government UBI program exists. |
 United Kingdom | Pilot | 2,023 | ongoing | In 2023, the UK launched three UBI pilots: one in Wales for care leavers (£1,600/month) and two micro-projects in Jarrow and East Finchley, England. Basic income has long been advocated by scholars and political parties including the SNP, Green Party, Scottish Green Party, and… |
 United States | Pilot | 2,019 | 2,021 | Stockton, California ran a UBI pilot giving $500/month to 125 residents earning under $46,000, extended until January 2021. Other small-scale UBI programs include Native American casino dividends (e.g., Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians since 1996) and Y Combinator’s planned Oa… |
Quick answers
- Where does this countries with universal basic income data come from?
- Rankodex compiles it from World Population Review and the primary sources it cites: Will Universal Income Ever Work? - U.S. News; Universal Basic Income Had a Rough Start - Technology Review; Universal basic income: pilot programs and experiments- Wiki; Universal basic income around the world - Wiki.