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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands has completed the first year of Enra, a quarterly payment for resident citizens, and approved $32.5 million for its second year, alongside a $3.2 million top-up. The program reached more than 40,000 people, but no public evaluation has established what it changed—making it a limited guide to how AI-related income support might work elsewhere.
The Marshall Islands completed the first year of Enra, a quarterly payment to resident citizens, and approved $32.5 million for year two plus a $3.2 million top-up. The program offers a rare nationwide example of basic income, but its reach is clearer than its effects: no public evaluation has been published, so it cannot yet show how guaranteed payments affect work, poverty or the economic disruption that AI may bring.
Enra’s first payment went out on November 26, 2025. Four quarterly payments were made through August 2026. The last payment was $215.85 per person to 40,714 people, according to the Marshall Islands Social Security Administration’s administrator, as reported by the Marshall Islands Journal. President Hilda Heine said the recipient count represented more than 95% of the resident population.
The payment is not a fixed amount. Enra divides a set annual budget among eligible recipients, so the per-person share changes with enrollment and available funding. When the registered list grew above 37,000, an early 2026 payment fell to about $160. A $3.2 million World Bank grant helped lift the third and fourth payments to around $200; the final payment was higher. The source estimates that a resident received roughly $780 over the year, though individual totals depend on eligibility and payment timing.
On September 2, the trust fund committee approved $32.5 million for Enra’s second year. Parliament passed a September 18 budget containing that amount and a separate $3.2 million top-up, compared with a $27.6 million Enra budget line the prior year. The program covers Marshallese citizens living in the country, including children; citizens living abroad are excluded. Payments can be received by check, bank deposit or the Lomalo phone wallet.
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 Without Outcome Data
Enra matters to debates about AI because it is an operating national payment, not a short trial restricted to a small sample. It shows that a government can distribute regular cash to a large share of its resident population through several payment channels. That makes its administration and funding choices relevant to governments considering income support as automation changes jobs.
But coverage is not proof of impact. The reported enrollment and payments do not establish whether Enra reduced hardship, changed employment decisions, improved health or education, or affected prices. Without a published evaluation, claims that the program offers a tested response to AI-driven job losses would go beyond the available evidence. Its direct lesson is narrower: broad payments can be implemented, while their economic and social effects still need to be measured.
The fiscal model also matters. Enra is financed from a trust fund rather than presented as a recurring tax-funded entitlement. The fund, created under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, was valued at about $1.77 billion at the end of July 2026. That makes the scheme’s scale and sustainability difficult to compare with proposals in larger economies that would require ongoing tax revenue or borrowing.
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How Enra’s Payments Are Funded
The Marshall Islands Ministry of Finance calls Enra the “world’s first country-wide, long-term universal basic income program.” That is the government’s characterization. The source notes that other examples differ: Alaska pays an annual dividend, while other basic-income projects have generally been time-limited pilots covering selected participants rather than an entire country.
Enra is officially called the Individual Support Distribution. The Marshall Islands Social Security Administration maintains the eligibility list, while the finance ministry oversees the funds. The initial quarterly payment was about $200, or roughly $800 a year, but the per-person amount varies because the program shares a fixed pot. Eligibility checks include whether citizens live in the country, with specified exceptions for people such as students and patients receiving treatment abroad.
The digital wallet has drawn attention because it transfers a token called USDM1. The finance ministry describes the token 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 source says the wallet is intended to help people on outer islands where bank access is limited and mailed checks can take weeks. The number of recipients using the wallet has not been published.
What One Year Cannot Establish
No evaluation of Enra has been published in the source material. It is not yet clear how the payments affected household income, poverty, employment, prices or access to services. The first year’s payment and registration figures show the program’s reach, but not whether recipients’ circumstances improved or how any changes compare with what would have happened without Enra.
The long-term funding picture is also unsettled. The IMF put Enra’s cost at 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and urged a move to targeted support. The government has approved second-year funding, but the material does not establish how long the current payment level can be maintained, what the fund’s future returns will be, or how policymakers will respond to the IMF’s recommendation. It also does not report how many recipients use Lomalo rather than checks or bank deposits.
For AI policy, the central uncertainty is whether a program funded from this trust-fund arrangement can inform countries facing different labor markets, tax systems and public budgets. Enra has not, on the evidence presented, been tested as a response to AI-related job losses.
Second-Year Funding and Evaluation
The next immediate development is the distribution of Enra’s second-year budget and top-up. The source material does not give a schedule for upcoming quarterly payments or say whether the amount per recipient will change. Because the payment comes from a fixed pool, enrollment and funding decisions will continue to affect each person’s share.
Readers will also need clearer public reporting to judge the program’s results: a published evaluation of household outcomes, employment and the distribution of payments, along with figures on wallet use and a longer-term funding plan. Until those details are available, Enra provides evidence that nationwide cash payments can reach a large share of a small country’s residents—not a settled answer to how governments should respond to AI’s effects on work.
Key Questions
What is Enra?
Enra is the Marshall Islands’ Individual Support Distribution, a quarterly cash payment for citizens living in the country. Children are eligible, while citizens living abroad are not.
How much did recipients receive in the first year?
The per-person payment changed over the year because Enra shares a fixed budget among eligible people. The final August 2026 payment was $215.85 per person; the source estimates roughly $780 in payments across the first year for a resident.
Has Enra been shown to reduce poverty or change employment?
Not in the evidence provided. No evaluation of Enra has been published in the source material, so its effects on poverty, work and other outcomes remain unclear.
Does Enra show how to address AI-related job losses?
It offers a real-world example of broad cash distribution, but it has not been evaluated as an AI response. Its funding model and national circumstances also differ from those of larger economies.
Where does Enra’s funding come from?
The payments are funded from a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, rather than directly from a new tax described in the source material. The fund was valued at about $1.77 billion at the end of July 2026.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
