Relocation intelligence

🇪🇷 Moving to Eritrea: tax, residency and cost of living

Eritrea levies progressive income tax from 2% to 30%. The effective burden on an income worth roughly EUR 54,000 is around 29%. Corporate tax is 30%. The nakfa is pegged to the dollar at about 15 nakfa. Eritrea is one of the world's most closed countries, with a one-party state, indefinite military conscription and very limited economic and personal freedoms. It also levies a controversial 2% diaspora tax on citizens abroad.

Thinking of moving to Eritrea? Here is the tax, residency, property and quality-of-life picture in plain numbers, with sources.

Key facts

Top income tax
30%
Corporate tax
30%
Capital gains
30%
Wealth tax
No
Inheritance tax
No
Cost of living index
30
Safety
3/10
Internet quality
1/10
Visa-free destinations
38
Foreigners can own property
No
Residency in
6 months
Citizenship in
5 years

Taxes

Progressive income tax 2% to 30%, effectively around 29% at EUR 54,000. Corporate tax 30%. Also a controversial 2% diaspora tax.

Residency and visas

Settling for foreigners is in practice almost impossible; the country is closed and residence is tightly controlled.

Property ownership

All land is state-owned and private ownership is heavily restricted; foreigners cannot own land.

Cost of living and quality of life

Eritrea has a one-party state, indefinite conscription and very limited freedoms, with poverty and weak services. Travel is advised against.

Passport and mobility

The Eritrean passport is very weak, with visa-free access to about 38 destinations, and leaving the country is strictly limited for citizens.

Why people move to Eritrea

  • Stable, dollar-pegged currency

    The nakfa is pegged to the dollar, giving nominal exchange-rate stability, though foreign currency is scarce.

  • Strategic Red Sea location

    Eritrea controls a long Red Sea coast, one of the world's key shipping routes.

Honest trade-offs

  • Eritrea is een van de meest gesloten landen ter wereld, met een eenpartijstaat, onbeperkte militaire dienstplicht en zeer beperkte vrijheden.
  • Alle grond is staatseigendom en buitenlanders kunnen geen grond in eigendom hebben; deviezen zijn schaars.
  • Eritrea int een omstreden diasporabelasting van 2% bij burgers in het buitenland, internationaal bekritiseerd.

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Sources

Other destinations