🔍 Read the full analysis: The Marshall Islands’ Basic Income: A Fresh Lens On AI And Work on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands has completed the first year of Enra, a quarterly payment for eligible citizens living in the country, and approved more funding for its second year. The program reached 40,714 people in its August 2026 payment, but no evaluation has been published to show its effects on households, work or poverty.
The Marshall Islands completed the first year of Enra, its quarterly cash-payment program for eligible citizens living in the country, and has approved $32.5 million for the second year. The August 2026 payment reached 40,714 people, according to the Marshall Islands Social Security Administration, but no published evaluation yet shows how the payments have affected poverty, household finances or work.
Enra’s official name is the Individual Support Distribution. It covers eligible Marshallese citizens who reside in the country, including children, without a means test or work requirement. Citizens living abroad are excluded. The payment agency maintains the eligible-person list, while the Ministry of Finance oversees the program.
The first payment was made on November 26, 2025. Four quarterly payments followed through August 2026. The final payment was $215.85 per person and went to 40,714 people, the agency’s administrator told the Marshall Islands Journal. President Hilda Heine has said that the recipients represented more than 95% of the resident population.
Enra divides a fixed annual budget among eligible recipients, so the amount per person can change as the list grows or outside funding is added. The first payment was about $202. As registrations increased, the March 2026 payment fell to about $160. A $3.2 million World Bank grant helped lift the later payments. Parliament’s September budget included $32.5 million for Enra and a separate $3.2 million top-up; the previous year’s program budget was $27.6 million.
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 National Test of Cash Support
Enra shifts a basic-income idea from a limited trial to a nationwide government policy. Its first year provides evidence about reach and delivery: the program paid tens of thousands of residents through checks, bank deposits or a phone wallet. It does not yet provide evidence that the payments changed employment, income security, poverty or prices. Those outcomes require data and evaluation that have not been published.
The program is relevant to debates about AI and the future of work because it offers a real-world example of recurring cash support without a work condition. But it is not a direct forecast of what automation might require in larger economies. Enra’s scale, funding source and national circumstances differ, and the available information does not establish that AI displacement is driving the policy.
The funding also matters. Enra is supported by a trust fund created under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, rather than by a new tax or a permanent revenue stream identified in the source material. A program financed this way may not answer how countries with different budgets could sustain a similar payment over time.
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How Enra’s First Year Unfolded
Enra is financed through a trust fund that was worth about $1.77 billion at the end of July 2026, according to the source material. The US–Marshall Islands trust fund committee approved $32.5 million for the program’s second year on September 2. Parliament passed a budget with the same Enra allocation on September 18, alongside the $3.2 million top-up.
Enrollment grew from 33,119 people by September 30, 2025 to more than 37,000 by the time of the delayed second payment. Officials reviewed residency as the list expanded. The finance minister said immigration records are used to check departures and that citizens away for more than three months are removed, with exceptions including students, diplomats and patients sent overseas for treatment. The larger eligible list reduced each person’s share of the fixed pot until extra grant money became available.
Payments can be made by paper check, direct deposit or Lomalo, a phone wallet. The wallet has drawn attention because it delivers a digital instrument called USDM1. The finance ministry describes USDM1 as 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. The number of recipients using the wallet has not been published.
The Effects Are Not Yet Measured
The central gap is an absence of a published evaluation. The first year’s payment figures show how many people received funds and how payment amounts shifted, but they do not establish whether Enra improved living standards, reduced hardship, affected employment or changed spending. No causal findings are provided in the source material.
It is also unclear how many recipients use Lomalo rather than checks or bank deposits, and how the government will measure longer-term results. The program’s current reach is based on official counts and the president’s estimate of the share of residents covered. Those figures do not resolve questions about missed eligible people, the reliability of residency checks or the experience of recipients on remote islands.
The long-term funding outlook is also unsettled. The second-year allocation is approved, but the available information does not say how long the fund can support payments at this level, how future amounts will be set or whether the program will continue unchanged. The IMF’s call for a targeted replacement signals a policy disagreement, not a decision that Enra will be ended.
Tracking Enra’s Second-Year Results
The next development is Enra’s second year of payments under the approved $32.5 million allocation, alongside the separate $3.2 million top-up. Future quarterly amounts will depend in part on the eligible list and the available budget. The source material does not provide a schedule for the next payment or announce a planned evaluation.
For a clearer assessment, readers will need published information on recipient numbers, payment timing, delivery methods and household outcomes. Any analysis of effects on work or poverty will need to distinguish observed changes from the effects of other economic conditions. Until such evidence is released, Enra’s first year establishes the reach of a national payment system, not its broader social or economic impact.
Key Questions
Who is eligible for Enra?
Marshallese citizens living in the Marshall Islands are eligible, including children. The program has no means test or work requirement; citizens living abroad do not qualify.
How much does each person receive?
The amount varies because Enra divides a fixed budget among eligible recipients. The August 2026 payment was $215.85 per person; earlier payments fell to about $160 as enrollment grew, before additional grant funding increased later amounts.
How is Enra funded?
The program draws on a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States. A World Bank grant also provided $3.2 million during the first year. The source material does not establish a permanent funding plan beyond the approved second-year budget.
Has Enra reduced poverty or changed employment?
No published evaluation has established its effects on poverty, household finances or work. The confirmed first-year figures document payments and recipient counts, not those outcomes.
What does Enra show about AI and work?
It shows how a country is operating a nationwide cash-payment policy without a work condition. It does not establish how basic income would work in larger economies or prove that AI-related job losses require such a policy.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
