[13] Niger, a landlocked West African nation that straddles the Sahel, has consistently been ranked on the bottom of the Human Development Index, at 0.394 as of 2019.

It has a very low per capita income, and ranks among the least developed and most heavily indebted countries in the world, despite having large raw commodities and a relatively stable government and society not currently affected by civil war or terrorism.

The 50% devaluation of the West African CFA franc in January 1994 boosted exports of livestock, cowpeas, onions, and the products of Niger's small cotton industry.

Drought cycles, desertification, a 3.4% population growth rate and the drop in world demand for uranium have undercut an already marginal economy.

Traditional subsistence farming, herding, small trading, and informal markets dominate an economy that generates few formal sector jobs.

Between 1988 and 1995 28% to 30% of the total economy of Niger was in the unregulated informal sector, including small and even large scale rural and urban production, transport and services.

Actual exports far exceed official statistics, which often fail to detect large herds of animals informally crossing into Nigeria.

The nation enjoyed substantial export earnings and rapid economic growth during the 1960s and 1970s after the opening of two large uranium mines near the northern town of Arlit.

Numerous foreign companies, including American firms, have taken out exploration licenses for concessions in the gold seam in western Niger, which also contains deposits of other minerals.

Several oil companies explored for petroleum since 1992 in the Djado plateau in north-eastern Niger and the Agadem basin, north of Lake Chad but made no discoveries worth developing at the time.

However, the parastatal SONICHAR (Société nigérienne de charbon) in Tchirozerine (north of Agadez) extracts coal from an open pit and fuels an electricity generating plant that supplies energy to the uranium mines.

In January 2000, Niger's newly elected government inherited serious financial and economic problems including a virtually empty treasury, past-due salaries (11 months of arrears) and scholarship payments, increased debt, reduced revenue performance, and lower public investment.

In its effort to comply with the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility plan, the government is also taking action to reduce corruption and, as the result of a participatory process encompassing civil society, has devised a Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan that focuses on improving health, primary education, rural infrastructure, and judicial restructuring.

The most important donors in Niger are France, the European Union, the World Bank, the IMF and other United Nations agencies (UNDP, UNICEF, FAO, WFP, NGOs, and UNFPA).

In 2005 the UN drew attention to the increased need for foreign aid given severe problems with drought and locusts resulting in a famine endangering the lives of around a million people.

Agriculture – products: cowpeas, cotton, peanuts, pearl millet, sorghum, cassava (tapioca), rice; cattle, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, horses, poultry Exports: $4.143 billion (2017 est.)

Actual exports far exceed official statistics, which often fail to detect large herds of animals informally crossing into Nigeria.

Northern areas which support crops, such as the southern portions of the Aïr Massif and the Kaouar oasis, rely upon oases and a slight increase in rainfall due to mountain effects.

The long-term effect of this, especially to pastoralist populations, remains in the 21st century, with those communities which rely upon cattle, sheep, and camels husbandry losing entire herds more than once during this period.

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) has employed this system to rehabilitate degraded laterite soils in Niger and increase smallholder farmers' incomes.

[25] As one of the Sahelian nations in West Africa, Niger has faced several droughts which led to food shortages and, in some cases, famines since its independence in 1963.

Niger's two uranium mines—SOMAIR's open pit mine and COMINAK's underground mine—are owned by a French-led consortium and operated by French company Orano.

[29] SONICHAR (Société Nigerienne de Charbon) in Tchirozerine (north of Agadez) extracts coal from an open pit and fuels an electricity generating plant that supplies energy to the uranium mines.

While the reserves were estimated at 324 million barrels for oil and 10 billion m3 for gas, Esso-Petronas relinquished the permit because it deemed the quantities too small for production.

[31] With the sudden increase in oil price by 2008, this assessment was no longer true; consequently, the government transferred the Agadem block rights to CNPC.

Niger announced that in exchange for the US$5 billion investment, the Chinese company would build wells, 11 of which would open by 2012, a 20,000-barrel-per-day (3,200 m3/d) SORAZ refinery near Zinder, and a pipeline out of the nation.

In its effort to comply with the IMF's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility plan, the government is also taking action to reduce corruption and, as the result of a participatory process encompassing civil society, has devised a Poverty Reduction Strategy Plan that focuses on improving health, primary education, rural infrastructure, and judicial restructuring.

Critics have argued that the obligations to creditor institutions and governments have locked Niger into a process of trade liberalization that is harmful for small farmers and in particular, rural women.

[34] Transport is crucial to the economy and culture of this vast landlocked nation, with cities separated by huge uninhabited deserts, mountain ranges, and other natural features.

[38] Other demands for electricity are met by NIGELEC, providing diesel generators and thermal coal plants to create fuel for rent.