🔍 Read the full analysis: The AI Debate Meets The Marshall Islands’ Nationwide Basic Income on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands completed a year of quarterly Enra payments to resident citizens and approved $32.5 million for the program’s second year, plus a separate $3.2 million top-up. The scheme reached 40,714 people in its final first-year payment, but no published evaluation yet shows how it affected household finances or the wider economy.
The Marshall Islands has completed the first year of Enra, its quarterly income payment for resident citizens, and approved $32.5 million for the program’s second year, alongside a separate $3.2 million top-up. The first-year payments reached 40,714 people in August 2026, but no public evaluation has yet established what the payments changed for recipients or the economy.
Enra, formally called the Individual Support Distribution, pays eligible Marshallese citizens living in the country, including children. It has no means test or work requirement. Citizens living abroad are excluded. The first payment was made on November 26, 2025, and four quarterly payments followed through August 2026.
The amount is not a fixed promise to each recipient: the government divides a fixed annual funding pot among those on the eligible list. The first payment was $201.92 per person. As registration grew, the March 2026 payment fell to about $160. A $3.2 million World Bank grant helped raise the third and fourth payments to around $200; the final payment was $215.85 per person, according to the Social Security Administration’s administrator, as reported by the Marshall Islands Journal.
Parliament passed a budget on September 18 that allocates $32.5 million to Enra for its second year and $3.2 million for an Enra top-up. The prior year’s budget line was $27.6 million. The money comes from a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, rather than from a new tax. The 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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A Nationwide Test With No Results Yet
Enra puts a national income-support policy into practice at a scale that differs from time-limited trials: it covers eligible residents across the country, rather than a selected group. That makes its first year relevant to governments and researchers considering how people might be supported as technology, including AI, changes employment. But coverage is not evidence of impact. The available information confirms payments and participation; it does not show whether the program reduced poverty, changed work decisions, improved health, or affected prices.
The policy also raises a funding question. The IMF estimated that Enra would cost 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and urged the government to replace it with a targeted scheme at the first feasible opportunity. That is the IMF’s assessment, not a finding that the payments have failed. The program’s reliance on investment-fund resources makes its longer-term affordability and competing uses of those funds central issues for the country.
For readers following the AI debate, the distinction matters: Enra is not an experiment designed to isolate the effects of automation. Its first-year record can inform discussion about how a real national payment system operates, but it cannot yet answer whether basic income is an effective response to AI-related job disruption.
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How Enra Reached Remote Communities
The government describes Enra as the world’s first country-wide, long-term universal basic income program. That is an official claim. The source report notes that other systems differ: Alaska distributes an annual dividend, while many basic-income trials have been temporary and limited to a subset of people. Enra’s reach is nationwide, though eligibility is restricted to citizens who live in the Marshall Islands.
Administration is shared between the Marshall Islands Social Security Administration, which maintains the eligible list, and the Ministry of Finance, which oversees funding. People can receive payments by check, bank deposit, or the Lomalo phone wallet. The wallet drew attention because it can deliver a digital instrument called USDM1. The finance ministry says USDM1 is a US-dollar sovereign bond backed one-to-one by short-dated US Treasuries, and says it is not a cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency, or stablecoin.
Digital delivery is presented as a practical response to distance. Main bank branches are on the two most populated atolls, Majuro and Ebeye, while a mailed check can take weeks to reach some outer islands. The number of recipients who use Lomalo has not been published. During the first year, the eligible list grew from 33,119 people enrolled by September 30, 2025 to more than 41,000 at one point, before 40,714 received the August payment.
What One Year Cannot Yet Show
No published evaluation of Enra is identified in the source material. It is therefore not yet clear how payments affected recipients’ income security, spending, employment, or access to services. The reported payment totals establish that money was distributed, not what outcomes followed.
The final first-year payment reached 40,714 people, and the president said that represented more than 95% of the resident population. The underlying denominator and a detailed breakdown of people eligible, enrolled, paid, or missing a payment have not been supplied here. The source report also says the payment amount changed as registrations grew, but does not provide a full audited account of all recipients’ total payments.
Other open questions include how many people use the Lomalo wallet, how the program’s costs will be sustained over time, and what conditions govern the separate top-up. The source material does not provide a detailed second-year payment calendar or describe an independent research plan.
Second-Year Payments and Evaluation
The approved second-year allocation sets a larger budget line than the previous year, but the available information does not specify the dates or per-person amounts for upcoming quarterly payments. Because Enra divides a fixed pot among eligible recipients, the eventual payment depends on the size of the eligible list and available funding.
Readers can look for further notices from the Ministry of Finance and the Social Security Administration on payment schedules, eligibility checks, and whether the top-up will change individual distributions. A published evaluation would be needed to assess effects on households and the wider economy. Until then, the strongest confirmed account is of the program’s reach, payment amounts, and funding—not its measured results.
Key Questions
Who qualifies for Enra?
Marshallese citizens living in the Marshall Islands qualify, including children. Citizens living abroad are not eligible, according to the program description in the source report.
How much did recipients receive?
The per-person payment varied because the program divides a fixed funding pot among eligible recipients. The August 2026 payment was $215.85 per person; earlier payments included about $160 when registrations increased.
Where does the program’s funding come from?
The source report says Enra is funded through a trust fund created under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, rather than a new tax. The IMF has raised concerns about the program’s cost.
Has Enra been shown to reduce poverty or change employment?
No published evaluation is identified in the source material. The first-year figures show who received payments and how much was distributed, but do not establish the program’s effects on poverty, work, or other outcomes.
Is Enra a response to AI-related job losses?
The source material presents Enra as relevant to the wider basic-income debate as AI changes work, but does not say the program was created specifically to address AI-related job losses. Its effects as a response to automation remain unmeasured.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
