10 countries that used to be rich but are now poor
The low-income nations that were once super-wealthy
A country's economic fortunes can change hugely over the course of centuries and even decades, and many nations considered poor or middle-income these days were once among the most affluent in the world. Looking back over the past 500 years or so, we reveal 10 countries that have gone from riches to rags.
Thailand
Thailand may not be the most hard-up country in the world, but its GDP per capita of around $6,000 (£4,200) is well below the global average, and pockets of severe poverty exist, particularly in the northeast and deep south of the nation.
Thailand
During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which covered much of modern-day Thailand, was richer than many European nations. The kingdom was a centre of international trade and its eponymous capital rivalled Paris in size and splendour.
Thailand
Unlike other countries in the region, the Ayutthaya Kingdom welcomed foreign traders with open arms, exchanging goods with merchants from China and Japan, as well as nations further afield such as France and Portugal.
Thailand
The boom times didn't last. Trade declined in the early 18th century, hitting the economy hard. A bloody game of thrones, which saw several potential heirs bumped off, destabilised the monarchy, and the threat of invasion from neighbouring Burma loomed large.
Thailand
Taking advantage of the weakened kingdom, the Burmese army invaded in 1765 and besieged the capital. After two years, Ayutthaya capitulated and was largely destroyed, and the country eventually re-emerged as the far less powerful Thonburi Kingdom, the precursor to modern Thailand.
Mali
Mali is one of the poorest countries on the planet with a GDP per capita of just $837 (£589). The drought-prone African nation features on the United Nation's list of 47 least developed countries and much of its population relies on subsistence farming to scratch out a meagre living.
Mali
Rewind hundreds of years and things were very different. The country was at the heart of the illustrious Mali Empire, one of the largest and richest empires in Africa spanning 439,400 square miles (1.1 million square kilometres).
Mali
The empire was at its height under emperor Mansa Musa I, who ruled from 1312 to 1337. Mansa Musa I is among the wealthiest people who ever lived and is thought to have amassed the equivalent of $415 billion (£293bn) during his 25-year reign.
Mali
Mali was a major gold producer and the emperor had at his disposal half the world's supply of the precious metal, which was traded with merchants from as far away as Egypt, Persia, Genoa and Venice.
Mali
A jewel in the Sahara, the empire's capital Timbuktu was a renowned centre of learning, culture and trade. The Mali Empire survived into the 16th century but by then its riches and power had largely diminished. A shadow of its former self, Mali has remained impoverished ever since.
Turkey
Turkey is far from poor but it isn't especially rich. The country is classified an emerging market economy with a GDP per capita of around $11,000 (£7,700), which is more or less the global average but lower than the majority of European countries.
Turkey
Back in the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire, from which modern Turkey emerged, boasted a GDP which was two-thirds that of Western Europe. In the middle part of the century, the affluent empire covered Anatolia and large swathes of Southeastern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
Turkey
The empire attained superpower status during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, who was at the helm from 1520 to 1566 and presided over a golden age of military prowess, unprecedented prosperity and great artistic achievement.
Turkey
Territorial expansion waned in the late 16th century, and the Ottoman Empire was overtaken by Europe's colonial powers in the 1700s. In an attempt to catch up, the Ottomans modernised the economy during the 19th century, but they were fighting a losing battle.
Turkey
Internal divisions were rife and, by the early 20th century, the empire was unravelling. The nation sided with Germany in World War I and had most of its territories confiscated as a result. The Turkish War of Independence followed, and the Ottoman Empire was reborn in 1922 as the much scaled-down Republic of Turkey.
India
India's GDP per capita of about $7,000 (£4.9k) is stubbornly low. While much progress has been made in recent years to stamp out extreme poverty in the country, hundreds of millions of Indians still live hand to mouth.
India
India wasn't always so poverty-stricken. The Mughal Empire, which was founded in 1526 and extended over almost the entire Indian subcontinent during its peak in the 17th century, was positively rolling in money.
India
By the turn of the 18th century, Mughal India had bypassed China to become the world's foremost economic power, accounting for just under 25% of global GDP, which would translate to a staggering $21 trillion (£14.8trn) today.
India
India was also the leading manufacturing country, generating a quarter of the world's industrial output up until the start of the 18th century. Real wages and living standards in Mughal India were even higher than in England, which had the best standard of living in Europe at the time.
India
Internal conflict led to the breakup of the empire during the late 18th century, and it was finally taken over by the British in 1858. By that point, competition from industrialised Europe had decimated India's industries and the colonised nation had lost much of its power and wealth.
Latvia
Controlled by foreign powers for centuries, Latvia declared independence in 1918 and adopted a liberal constitution in 1922. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the country was wealthier than Baltic neighbours such as Finland and Denmark, and really came into its own.
Latvia
The economy went from strength to strength during this time, fuelled in the most part by buoyant agricultural and timber exports, and the standard of living in Latvia eclipsed that of the Scandinavian countries.
Latvia
Latvians were the largest consumers per head of meat, milk and butter in Europe and the country had the highest percentage of university students on the continent. Sadly, the period of abundant prosperity was relatively brief.
Latvia
During the Second World War, Latvia was ravaged by the Nazis and the Soviets, eventually falling into Red Army hands. In 1944, the country became a satellite state of the USSR and was under Soviet control until 1990, which pretty much obliterated the economy.
Latvia
Since re-gaining independence in 1990, Latvia, which is now part of the European Union, has made great economic strides, but with a GDP per capita of around $14,000 (£9.8k), Latvia continues to lag far behind the Scandinavian nations it once outshone.
Cuba
Decades of communist rule and crippling US sanctions have impoverished Cuba. The Caribbean nation has a GDP per capita of just $7,815 (£5.5k) and the government struggles to provide adequate housing, transportation and other essentials.
Cuba
Before Fidel Castro led the Cuban Revolution and stormed to power in 1959, the country had one of the highest GDPs per capita in the Americas, the second highest per capita ownership of cars and telephones, not to mention booming sugar and tourism industries.
Cuba
A gambling playground for moneyed Americans, Cuba was thriving economically, but things weren't all rosy. Wealth inequality was extreme during the 1950s and Cuba, which was under repressive military rule, was plagued by organised crime, drugs and prostitution.
Cuba
Following the revolution, Cuba suffered a long-term decline in GDP per capita. The economy reached a low point in the early 1990s when Soviet subsidies dried up, and hasn't recovered in any spectacular way since.
Cuba
Even now, GDP per capita is lower in relative terms than it was during the 1950s, though wealth inequality has improved, and the country's healthcare and education systems are highly regarded worldwide.
Iraq
During the 1960s and 1970s, Iraq was fast becoming a highly developed nation. Blessed with abundant oil and gas reserves, the Middle Eastern country cashed-in big-time from the boom in oil prices that followed the OPEC embargo and oil crisis of 1973.
Iraq
Iraq enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the region. GDP per capita had skyrocketed since the 1950s, and more than doubled during the 1970s, and the country had advanced infrastructure, social services and healthcare.
Iraq
Iraq's prospects headed downhill when Saddam Hussein formally assumed power in 1979. In 1980, the brutal dictator dragged the country into a devastating eight-year war with neighbouring Iran, which ravaged the economy. Internal corruption and the drop in oil prices exacerbated Iraq's dire financial situation.
Iraq
By the end of the decade, GDP per capita had dropped to a paltry $938 (£659). Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the ensuing Gulf War further damaged the economy, which was subject to wide-ranging sanctions throughout the decade.
Iraq
Growth took another major blow in the Iraq War, which began in 2003 and ended in 2011, but since then, the economy has recovered significantly, despite a sketchy security situation. Be that as it may, GDP per capita is only around $5,000 (£3.5k) currently.
Zimbabwe
Since 2000, Zimbabwe has gone from Africa's booming bread basket to its most notorious economic basket case, running the gambit of financial disasters, from extreme hyperinflation to deep recession.
Zimbabwe
During the 1980s, Zimbabwe's economy was in robust shape thanks to the country's abundant natural resources and lucrative agricultural sector, but the cracks were beginning to show in the 1990s as the nation's financial situation worsened.
Zimbabwe
In 2000, President Mugabe's government began to seize the country's highly productive white-owned farms, a policy that proved disastrous. The new owners of the farms lacked agricultural skills and experience, and production soon plummeted, damaging the economy no-end.
Zimbabwe
Endemic corruption and a financially draining war in the Congo intensified the economic crisis. Hyperinflation kicked in by 2003 and the unemployment rate hit 95%. Not an awful lot has improved since then.
Zimbabwe
Despite the ousting of President Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's economic prospects are grim. The new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, is courting major Chinese investment, which could kick-start the economy, but life is likely to remain tough for most Zimbabweans for some time yet.
Nauru
Back in the 1970s, the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru was flush with cash. Rich off the back of its plentiful deposits of phosphate, a key component in fertilizer, the compact country boasted the highest GDP per capita in the world, approaching a bumper $20,000 (£14k).
Nauru
The island's government went on the mother of all spending sprees, snapping up aircraft and ships, and building luxury hotels and a golf course, while the population, which numbered around 7,000 during the 1970s, splurged on imported supercars, swanky homes and more.
Nauru
Anticipating the depletion of the country's phosphate reserves, the government ploughed $1 billion (£706k) into trust funds but the money was mismanaged and soon ran out. When the mining industry came a cropper in the 1980s, Nauru was drowning in debt. Severe austerity followed.
Nauru
In the early 2000s, the telecoms and banking systems collapsed. Since then, bankrupt Nauru has been propped up by international aid and heavily depends on income generated from an Australian immigrant detention centre located on its soil.
Nauru
GDP per capita has dropped to around $8,000 (£5.7k), poverty is widespread and the country faces a very bleak future. The Australian government is mulling over whether to close the immigrant centre, which would deprive Nauru of its only meaningful source of foreign income.
Venezuela
In recent years, Venezuela has gone from being one of Latin America's most healthy economies to its most ailing. Last year, the Venezuelan economy was 35% smaller than it was in 2013 and GDP per capita had shrunk by a shocking 40%.
Venezuela
In the midst of one of the worst financial crises in history, the Venezuelan economy has contracted more than that of the US during the Great Depression and the economy of Russia following the fall of communism.
Venezuela
Overly reliant on oil, the economy was devastated by the sharp drop in the price of the commodity in 2014. With all its eggs in one basket, the country's socialist government failed to diversify the economy during the good times when the price of the black stuff was high.
Venezuela
The government's rigid price controls and refusal to accept foreign aid have worsened the situation and led to chronic shortages of food, medicines and other essentials. Hunger is now widespread in the once comfortably well-off country, crime has spiralled out of control and social tensions are running high.
Venezuela
While the government is planning to refinance and restructure its sky-high external debts, confidence that the plan will work out is low and the economy is expected to contract further in 2018, deepening the economic catastrophe in the country.
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