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Gabon

31%
Population below international poverty line
33%
Population below national poverty line
229
per month
National minimum wage
342
per month
Rural living wage
453
per month
Urban living wage
29%
Agricultural workforce
7%
Agriculture share of GDP
3
medium
Risk to workers' rights

Context

Gabon has a small population of 2.4 million people. The country is highly urbanized since almost all of its population (91%) resides in urban areas. Yet, the agricultural sector assumes 29% of total employment in Gabon and represents 5.8% of its national GDP.

The agricultural sector in Gabon is small and under-developed, even though a significant share of rural Gabonese depends on agriculture to meet their needs. Small-holder farmers dominate agriculture in Gabon, with around 70,000 family subsidence farms in existence. These farmers are relatively old and tend to small plots of no more than 0.2 hectares on average. As a result, the country is not able to meet its domestic food demand, thus resolving to import almost 60% of the needed food products.

The top produced commodities in Gabon are plantains, cassava, sugar cane, yams and taro (cocoyam). As for Gabon’s top exported commodities in terms of quantity, these are palm oil, wheat bran, palm kernel oil, and natural rubber.

Wages

Minimum wage

The national minimum wage in Gabon is set at 150,000 Central African francs () per worker per month. The government however has not enforced the aforementioned minimum wage in the informal sector, which includes the majority of workers in the country. In addition, labor law regulations have not been enforced in the mining and timber sectors, where the majority of foreign labor is employed. Employers in these sectors have repeatedly mistreated workers, especially foreigners, by underpaying them, dismissing them without notice and even abuse them physically.

Living wage

The Global Living Wage Coalition has developed a  for rural and urban Gabon, based on the Anker methodology.

The Anker Living Wage Reference Value in rural Gabon is estimated at 224,151 Central African francs () per month, while in urban Gabon it is estimated at 297,008 Central African francs (). These ar the wages required for workers in a typical area of rural or urban Gabon respectively, to afford a

What's happening

resource

Living Wage Reference Value, Urban Gabon

Living wage estimates for workers to be able to afford a basic but decent living standard in urban areas of Gabon.

resource

Living Wage Reference Value, Rural Gabon

Living wage estimates for workers to be able to afford a basic but decent living standard in rural areas of Gabon.

initiative

Cocoa Under Shade

An initiative in Gabon’s Woleu-Ntem province which aims to address poverty and deforestation through the promotion of shade-grown cocoa.

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