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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands completed the first year of Enra, a quarterly cash payment for resident citizens, and approved $32.5 million for its second year. Official figures show the program reached more than 40,000 people, but no published evaluation yet shows how it affected recipients or the economy. Its funding model and scale also differ sharply from the AI-driven job losses debated in wealthier countries.
The Marshall Islands has completed the first year of Enra, its quarterly basic-income payment for resident citizens, and approved $32.5 million for the program’s second year. The rollout offers a rare nationwide example of a regular, broadly distributed payment, but the government has not published an evaluation showing what it changed for recipients—a limit for anyone seeking lessons about how to respond to AI’s effects on work.
Enra’s first payment went out on November 26, 2025. Four quarterly payments followed through August 2026. The final payment was $215.85 per person to 40,714 people, according to the program administrator cited by the Marshall Islands Journal. President Hilda Heine said the total represented more than 95% of the resident population. Eligibility is limited to Marshallese citizens living in the country, including children; citizens living abroad do not qualify.
The payment is a share of a fixed annual budget, so the amount has changed as enrollment grew. The first payment was about $202. When the registered population rose above 37,000, the March 2026 payment fell to about $160. A $3.2 million World Bank grant helped lift the third and fourth payments to around $200 or more. The government’s September budget set aside $32.5 million for Enra and a further $3.2 million top-up, compared with $27.6 million in the previous year.
Payments can be made by check, bank deposit or the Lomalo phone wallet. The wallet’s digital token, USDM1, has drawn attention, but the finance ministry says it is a sovereign bond backed one-to-one by short-dated U.S. Treasuries and rejects descriptions of it as a cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency or stablecoin. The ministry says the wallet is intended in part to address the practical difficulty of reaching bank branches from outer islands.
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 Limited Evidence
Enra matters because it has moved beyond a small pilot: it is a countrywide program with recurring payments, and its first year shows that a government can distribute money to a large share of its resident population. That is useful evidence about reach and administration. It does not, on its own, show whether recipients became more financially secure, spent differently, worked less, or experienced improved health or education outcomes.
Those distinctions matter in debates over AI. A payment funded by a national trust fund is not the same policy as replacing wages lost to automation across a large, diverse economy. Enra also does not establish that AI will cause widespread unemployment, or that basic income is the best response if it does. The program can inform discussion of delivery systems and payment design, while its economic effects remain unmeasured in published research.
The International Monetary Fund put Enra’s cost at 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and called for the government to replace it with a targeted scheme at the first feasible opportunity. That is a fiscal concern, not an evaluation of the program’s effects on households. The disagreement highlights a central policy question: whether a universal payment’s broad reach justifies its cost, or whether limited public funds should be directed more narrowly.
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How Enra Is Funded and Delivered
Enra’s official name is the Individual Support Distribution. The finance ministry describes it as “the world’s first country-wide, long-term universal basic income program.” That is the government’s characterization; the source report says it is difficult to identify a close equivalent, as Alaska’s annual dividend is not designed as a basic-income floor and many other schemes have been time-limited pilots.
The program is financed through a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, rather than through a dedicated tax on wages or businesses. The fund was valued at about $1.77 billion at the end of July 2026, according to the source material. That funding arrangement is central to assessing whether other countries could replicate the program: a trust-fund drawdown does not establish how a larger country would fund similar payments over time.
Enrollment rose from 33,119 people by September 2025 to more than 41,000 during the first year. Officials delayed the second payment while reviewing registrations and residency. The government has said citizens away for more than three months can be removed from the list, with exceptions including students, diplomats and people sent abroad for medical treatment.
Household Effects Remain Unmeasured
No published evaluation of Enra’s first year is identified in the source material. It is therefore not yet clear how the payments affected poverty, food security, employment, prices or public services, or whether any effects differed by age, location or household income. The payment count establishes reach, not impact.
Some operational details are also missing. The number of recipients using Lomalo has not been published, and the available figures do not show how many eligible residents failed to collect a payment or why. The source material does not specify the trust fund’s long-term withdrawal rules or show how its future value would affect the program’s sustainability.
Those gaps limit comparisons with AI-related proposals. Enra was introduced as a national income-support policy, not as a response to documented AI job displacement. The available account provides no evidence that the program tested how a basic income would perform during large-scale automation.
Second-Year Funding and Evaluation
The immediate next step is delivery of the second-year allocation approved in September. The source material does not provide a schedule for upcoming payments or say whether the quarterly amount will be fixed in advance; because Enra divides a budget among eligible recipients, enrollment and added funding may continue to affect individual payments.
A published assessment would be needed to establish more than how many people received money. Useful reporting would track household income and spending, work and education, health and food security, and differences between residents on the main atolls and those on outer islands. It would also clarify administrative costs, collection rates and the trust fund’s financial outlook. Until such evidence is available, Enra’s clearest lesson is that nationwide distribution is possible—not that basic income has been shown to offset AI’s effects on employment.
Key Questions
What is Enra?
Enra is the Marshall Islands’ Individual Support Distribution, a quarterly payment for Marshallese citizens living in the country, including children. It has no means test or work requirement, according to the source material.
How much did recipients receive in the first year?
The amount varied because the program shares a fixed budget among eligible recipients. The final payment in August 2026 was $215.85 per person; the source estimates that a resident received roughly $780 over the first year.
Has Enra shown that basic income works?
Available figures show that the program reached more than 40,000 people, but no published evaluation of its effects is identified in the source material. Reach alone does not establish changes in poverty, employment or household wellbeing.
Does Enra show how to address AI-related job losses?
Not by itself. Enra offers a real-world example of payment delivery, but it was not presented as a response to AI-driven job losses, and the available evidence does not measure its economic effects.
How is the program funded?
Enra is paid from a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States. The source material does not describe a dedicated tax funding the payments.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
