🔍 Read the full analysis: The Marshall Islands’ Basic Income: One Year In, With AI In View on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands completed the first year of Enra, its quarterly income program for citizens living in the country, with four payments made between November 2025 and August 2026. Parliament approved $32.5 million for the program’s second year, but no public evaluation yet shows how the payments have affected recipients.
The Marshall Islands has completed the first year of Enra, its nationwide quarterly cash payment for eligible citizens living in the country, and approved $32.5 million for the program’s second year. Four payments went out between November 2025 and August 2026, but the government has not published an evaluation showing how the money affected recipients or the wider economy.
Enra’s official name is the Individual Support Distribution. It pays eligible residents without a means test or work requirement, and includes children. The amount is not fixed: the program divides a set annual budget among registered recipients, so the payment per person can change as enrollment changes. In its first year, quarterly amounts ranged from about $160 to $215.85.
The final payment, made in August 2026, was $215.85 per person for 40,714 people, the Marshall Islands Journal reported, citing the Social Security Administration’s administrator. President Hilda Heine said the total represented more than 95% of the resident population. A $3.2 million World Bank grant helped lift the third and fourth payments from roughly $160 to about $200; the August amount was higher, according to the reported payment figure.
Parliament passed a budget on September 18, 2026, providing $32.5 million for Enra and a separate $3.2 million “Enra Top Up.” The previous year’s budget line was $27.6 million. The program’s principal funding source is a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, rather than a new tax. That fund was valued at about $1.77 billion at the end of July 2026, according to the source report.
Infographic 01 · Enra, the first year
Four payments, one fixed pot
How the Marshall Islands paid a basic income to almost every resident citizen between November 2025 and August 2026.
- Nov 2025First payment: $201.92 to more than 33,000 people. MISSA had enrolled 33,119 by 30 Sep 2025.Launch ceremony in Majuro, 26 Nov
- End Mar 2026About $160. Delayed a month to vet new registrations and residence. More than 37,000 registered, same fixed budget.Citizens away more than 3 months are removed from the list, with exceptions
- End May 2026About $200 again, thanks to a $3.2 million World Bank grant ($1.6 million per quarter). More than 41,000 on the eligible list.Pushed by the president over fuel and food prices
- Aug 2026$215.85 to 40,714 people. Fewer paper checks than in earlier rounds.MISSA administrator to the Marshall Islands Journal
Payment per person, year one
US dollars per quarter · March and May rounded as reported
Why the amount moves
- Enra is a fixed annual budget shared equally among everyone eligible that quarter.
- More registrations mean a smaller share unless the budget grows.
- Roughly $780 per person in year one, about 12% of GDP per person (IMF: $6,417, FY2023). My arithmetic.
Sources: Marshall Islands Journal (27 Nov 2025, 26 Feb, 22 May, 6 Aug, 27 Aug 2026) · IMF, 10 Sep 2025. March and May amounts as reported (“about”).
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What a Second Year Will Test
Enra is an example of a national government making regular payments to nearly all residents who meet its citizenship and residency rules, rather than testing the idea through a small, temporary pilot. Its first year shows that the government could register tens of thousands of recipients and deliver payments through checks, bank deposits and a phone wallet. That is evidence of reach and administration, not proof of effects on poverty, employment, health or household finances.
The case has drawn attention as governments debate how to support people if artificial intelligence changes or reduces demand for some kinds of work. But Enra does not, on the available evidence, establish how a basic income would work in a larger or wealthier country. It is funded through a specific trust arrangement, serves a population of a different scale, and has not yet produced a published impact assessment. The distinction matters: implementation is documented; outcomes are not.
The second-year allocation also sharpens a fiscal question. The International Monetary Fund put the program’s cost at 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and urged the government to replace Enra with a targeted scheme at the first feasible opportunity. That is the IMF’s policy position, not a finding that the program has failed. The longer-term affordability of the payments depends on the trust fund, future budgets and the government’s choices about competing needs.
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How Enra’s First Year Unfolded
The first payment went out on November 26, 2025, at about $201.92 per person, when 33,119 people were registered. Enrollment later rose above 37,000, and the payment fell to about $160 as the same budget was divided among more people. By May 2026, more than 41,000 people were on the eligible list, according to the source report.
The second payment, initially expected in February, was delayed until late March while the government reviewed new registrations and residency. The finance minister said authorities checked departures and removed citizens who had been away for more than three months, with exceptions for diplomats, patients receiving treatment abroad and students. The third and fourth payments were increased with help from the World Bank grant. The final round reached 40,714 recipients.
Recipients can receive the money by paper check, direct deposit or Lomalo, a phone wallet. The wallet delivers a digital instrument called USDM1 on a public blockchain. Some outlets have described USDM1 as a stablecoin, but the Finance Ministry disputes that description, saying it is a U.S.-dollar sovereign bond backed one-to-one by short-dated U.S. Treasuries and is not a cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency or stablecoin. The ministry calls Enra the world’s first country-wide, long-term universal basic income program; that is the government’s characterization.
Impact Evidence Is Still Missing
No evaluation of Enra has been published, according to the source report. The available figures establish how many people were registered and paid, and how payment amounts shifted as enrollment and supplementary funding changed. They do not show whether the transfers changed recipients’ income security, spending, work decisions or access to essentials.
Other details also remain unavailable. The number of recipients using Lomalo has not been published, and the source material does not provide a full accounting of the program’s administrative costs or a detailed forecast of future trust-fund returns. The exact per-person amount for each quarter is not independently set as a fixed entitlement; it depends on the available pot and the eligible list. Those gaps limit comparisons with other basic-income programs and projections of Enra’s long-term cost.
Monitoring Enra’s Next Budget Year
Enra is set to continue under the second-year allocation approved in September. The next payments will show how the per-person amount changes under the larger budget, how many eligible residents are registered, and whether supplementary support is used again. The source material does not give a schedule for the next payment or a date for a formal evaluation.
For a clearer assessment, readers will need published information on recipient outcomes, administrative spending, wallet use and the trust fund’s capacity to support future rounds. The IMF’s recommendation to move toward targeted payments also leaves a policy question for the government: whether to keep the universal design, alter eligibility or replace it. Until evaluation results appear, Enra’s first year can be described as a nationwide delivery effort, but not as evidence that basic income has achieved particular social or economic results.
Key Questions
Who qualifies for Enra?
Marshallese citizens who live in the Marshall Islands are eligible, including children. Citizens living abroad do not qualify, subject to reported exceptions for certain temporary absences such as study, medical treatment and diplomatic service.
How much did recipients receive in the first year?
Payments varied because Enra divides a fixed budget among eligible recipients. Quarterly amounts ranged from about $160 to $215.85; the last payment was $215.85 per person in August 2026.
How is Enra funded?
The program is funded through a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, along with a $3.2 million World Bank grant that supplemented payments during the first year. Parliament allocated $32.5 million for Enra’s second year and $3.2 million for a top-up.
Has Enra been shown to improve recipients’ lives?
Published impact results are not available in the source material. The first-year figures document payments and coverage, but do not establish effects on poverty, employment or household well-being.
What does Enra have to do with AI?
Enra is being watched amid wider debate about how governments might support people if AI changes employment. The Marshall Islands program offers a real-world case of broad, recurring payments, but its funding structure, population and lack of published outcome research mean it cannot by itself predict how basic income would work elsewhere.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
