🔍 Read the full analysis: One Year Of UBI In The Marshall Islands, And The Bigger AI Questions on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands completed the first year of Enra, a quarterly payment for resident citizens, with four rounds paid between November 2025 and August 2026. The government approved $32.5 million for year two, but no evaluation of the program’s effects has been published.
The Marshall Islands has completed the first year of Enra, its quarterly basic-income program for resident citizens, and approved $32.5 million for year two. Four payments went out from November 2025 to August 2026, reaching more than 40,000 people in the final round, but no published evaluation yet shows what the payments changed for recipients or the wider economy.
Enra’s formal name is the Individual Support Distribution. It pays eligible Marshallese citizens who live in the country, including children, without a means test or work requirement. Citizens living abroad are not eligible. The amount is not fixed per person: the program divides a set annual budget among those on the eligible list, with payments issued quarterly by check, bank deposit or the Lomalo phone wallet.
The first payment, made on November 26, 2025, was $201.92 for more than 33,000 people. As registrations rose, the second payment was delayed while authorities checked eligibility and fell to about $160 per person. A $3.2 million World Bank grant helped lift the third and fourth payments. The final round, in August 2026, was $215.85 for 40,714 people, according to the Marshall Islands Social Security Administration’s administrator, as reported by the Marshall Islands Journal.
The trust fund committee overseeing the U.S.–Marshall Islands Compact approved $32.5 million for Enra’s second year on September 2. Parliament passed a budget on September 18 that included that amount and a separate $3.2 million Enra top-up. The previous year’s budget line was $27.6 million. The program is funded through a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, rather than a new tax. The fund was valued at about $1.77 billion at the end of July 2026.
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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A Nationwide Test With Limited Results
Enra offers a rare real-world case of a national, ongoing cash payment rather than a small trial restricted to selected participants. The government says the final payment reached more than 95% of the resident population, although that figure is the president’s statement. The payment system also reflects practical challenges across a country of remote atolls: bank branches are concentrated on Majuro and Ebeye, while mailed checks can take weeks to reach some outer islands.
For readers following debates about AI, jobs and income security, the program is relevant as a policy example, not as proof that universal basic income can replace earnings lost to automation. The available account establishes who was paid, how the program was financed and how the per-person amount shifted as registrations changed. It does not report measured effects on employment, poverty, prices, health or recipients’ financial security. Those outcomes cannot be inferred from the payment totals alone.
The fiscal question is also central. The International Monetary Fund estimated Enra’s cost at 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and urged the government to replace it with a targeted program at the first feasible opportunity. That is the IMF’s policy recommendation, not evidence that Enra has already failed. The program’s dependence on trust-fund resources and the absence of published impact findings make both its durability and its results subjects for further scrutiny.
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How Enra’s First Year Unfolded
The Marshall Islands Ministry of Finance describes Enra as “the world’s first country-wide, long-term universal basic income program.” That is the ministry’s characterization. The source account contrasts it with Alaska’s annual dividend and time-limited basic-income trials elsewhere, but a definitive global comparison is not provided here. Enra’s eligibility rules are narrower than a payment to every citizen worldwide: recipients must be citizens living in the Marshall Islands.
The first-year payment pattern shows the consequences of sharing a fixed pot across a changing recipient list. Enrollment rose from 33,119 people by September 30, 2025, to more than 37,000 by the second payment and more than 41,000 ahead of the third. The government said it was checking registrations and residency; the finance minister said citizens away for more than three months were removed, with exceptions for diplomats, students and people sent abroad for medical treatment. More eligible registrations meant smaller shares unless additional funding was added.
The program has also attracted attention because Lomalo can deliver a digital token called USDM1. Some media accounts call it a stablecoin, but the finance ministry rejects that description. It says USDM1 is a U.S.-dollar sovereign bond backed one-to-one by short-dated U.S. Treasuries and says it is not a cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency or stablecoin. Checks and bank deposits remain other payment options; the number of recipients using the phone wallet has not been published.
Effects and Delivery Data Remain Unreported
No evaluation of Enra has been published in the source material. It therefore remains unclear whether the payments have changed household poverty, work decisions, access to food or other services, or local prices. The reported number of people paid describes program reach, not the program’s wider effects.
Other details are also missing, including how many recipients use Lomalo, how many choose checks or bank deposits, and whether payment access differs across atolls. The final installment was reported for 40,714 people, while the president said the program reached more than 95% of residents; the available information does not reconcile those figures. It also does not provide a full account of the trust fund’s future earnings, competing spending needs or the long-term affordability of the larger year-two allocation.
Year Two Puts Funding Under Scrutiny
The next phase is the delivery of year-two payments under the approved budget. The source material does not give a schedule for those installments or state whether their per-person value will be set in advance. Because the payment is divided among eligible residents, changes in enrollment and any additional grants could affect the amount received in each quarter.
Readers will also need to watch for independent evidence on outcomes, clearer reporting on payment methods and further government or IMF assessments of the program’s finances. Until such information is available, Enra’s first year confirms that the Marshall Islands has established a broad national payment system and committed more funding to continue it; it does not settle whether the program improves living standards or offers a model other countries can afford.
Key Questions
What is Enra?
Enra is the Marshall Islands’ Individual Support Distribution, a quarterly payment for citizens who live in the country. It has no means test or work requirement, and children are eligible.
How much did recipients get in the first year?
The amount changed between installments because a fixed budget was divided among a changing number of eligible people. The final August 2026 payment was $215.85 per person for 40,714 people; earlier payments included amounts of about $160 and about $200.
How is Enra funded?
The program is funded through a trust fund established under the U.S.–Marshall Islands Compact of Free Association, not through a new tax, according to the source account. Parliament approved $32.5 million for year two, plus a separate $3.2 million top-up.
Has Enra’s impact been measured?
No published evaluation is identified in the source material. The reported payment counts show reach, but do not establish effects on poverty, employment, health or household finances.
It provides a national policy example, but the first-year information does not test how basic income would respond to job losses caused by AI. The program’s effects, long-term funding and applicability to other countries remain unestablished.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
