The Marshall Islands have entered history as the first country in the world to implement universal basic income nationwide unconditionally. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
According to The Guardian, all citizens of the islands will now receive payments of 200 US dollars every quarter. This amounts to 800 dollars annually and the program is aimed at supporting a broad segment of the population.
An important aspect of the program is that citizens have the right to choose how they receive their payments. Funds can be transferred to a bank account, received via paper checks, or accepted in the form of cryptocurrency.
The local government has announced that the initial payments have been delivered to the population. According to statistical data, over 60 percent of the payments were transferred to bank accounts, while the remainder was distributed through checks.
So far, only 12 citizens have chosen the cryptocurrency option. According to David Paul, the Minister of Finance of the Marshall Islands, this program is not intended to encourage people to stop working but rather to strengthen social stability and provide moral support to the population.
He stated, "800 dollars a year does not make a person rich, but it makes everyone feel that they are not being ignored." The program is funded based on a special agreement with the United States.
This agreement is financed from a fund established as compensation for nuclear tests conducted in the Marshall Islands in the last century. Currently, the fund manages assets worth 1.3 billion dollars, and an additional 500 million dollars is planned to be allocated by 2027.
The Marshall Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean and consist of 29 coral atolls and over a thousand small islands. The country’s population is close to 40,000, with half residing in the capital city, Majuro.
Previously, pilot projects on universal basic income were conducted in countries such as the United States, Canada, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, and India, but these were limited to specific regions. The Marshall Islands are gaining global attention as the first country to implement this system nationwide.
