There is a man called Jerome Kerviel, who is the poorest man in the world. Among the 689 million people living in extreme poverty on $1.90 or less a day, he is the poorest.
Jerome Kerviel is a French rogue trader who caused losses totaling €4.9 billion in the 2008 Société Générale trading loss and was found guilty and sentenced to prison for breach of trust, forgery, and illegal use of the bank’s computers.
The poorest person in the world is hard to arrive at since there are billions who are fighting for basic needs in the world; but going by debt there is this one man who is actually the poorest person in the world- Jerome Kerviel.
Jerome Kerviel Biography
The table below contains more information about the poorest man in the world.
| Full Name | Jerome Kerviel |
| Nick Name/ | Jerome Kerviel |
| Birth Place: | Pont-l’Abbé, Brittany |
| Date Of Birth/ | January 11, 1977 |
| Age/ | 45 |
| Height/How Tall: | N/A |
| Weight: | N/A |
| Hair Color: | Dark brown |
| Parents Name: | Father – Charles Mother – Marie-Josée |
| Siblings: | Yes |
| School: | Lumière University Lyon |
| College: | N/A |
| Religion: | N/A |
| Nationality: | France |
| Zodiac Sign: | Capricorn |
Who Is Jerome Kerviel, The Poorest Man In the World?
Jerome Kerviel is the poorest man n the world. He grew up Pont-l’Abbé, Brittany. His father, Charles, was a blacksmith, and his mother, Marie-Josée, is a retired hairdresser. Olivier is his older brother. Kerviel was wed, but in 2008 he and his wife decided to part ways.
The university’s financial program, which was started in the 1990s with support from France’s larger banks, was intended to prepare students for middle and back office positions in the trading departments of financial institutions.
Kerviel graduated from Lumière University Lyon 2 in 2000 with a Master of Finance with a focus on the organization and control of financial markets. Prior to that, he graduated from the University of Nantes with a bachelor’s in finance.
The poorest man in the world has dropped out of the battle for money because he has become the worst-case scenario of a rich guy who has become poor. What happened to Jerome Kerviel is highly surprising and daunting at the same time. Many people cannot stop imagining how a billionaire could have lost their wealth overnight.
Kerviel’s former professor at Lyon, Gisèle Reynaud, said in an interview that Kerviel “was a student just like the others, a young man, and he didn’t distinguish himself from the others.”
In 2001, on the recommendation of Thierry Mavic, the mayor of Pont l’Abbé, Kerviel ran for a position on the local council with the Union for a Popular Movement but was unsuccessful.
How did Jerome Kerviel become the poorest man in the world?
Most people believe that the poorest person in the world is suffering from the pain he brought upon himself. After engaging in $73 billion in illegal agreements, forgeries, and other shady activities, he owes $6.3 billion. As a result, Jerome Kerviel is the world’s most indebted man making him the poorest person in the world.
He is an ex-Societe Generale Trader who was sentenced to three years in prison after surrendering to French authorities.
Jerome Kerviel owes $6.3 billion making him the most indebted person in the world.
How It All Happened…
Jerome Kerviel was a Junior Trader for his bank’s Delta One business in 2005, which includes program trading, swaps, ETFs, quantitative trading, and index futures.
Christian Noyer, the Governor of the Bank of France, praised him as a “Computer Genius.” His computer skills, on the other hand, were in irresponsible hands as he carried out $73 billion in unauthorized transactions along with computer hacking.
Jerome Kerviel, on the other hand, had acquired a stock index futures position of US$73 billion by January 9, 2008, which cost Societe Generale (SocGen) US$7.2 billion. On January 19, 2008, his bosses discovered illicit trading linked to him.
The poorest man in the world was utilizing these vast sums of money to engage in arbitrage trading, which involves taking advantage of two stocks trading at different prices when they should be trading at the same price.
Meanwhile, he had built up massive bets and losses by the time the fraud was discovered, owing the bank $6.3 billion, more than he will ever be able to pay.
How The Poorest Man In the World Was Arrested
It was said that the poorest man in the world handed himself to French authorities to begin a three-year jail sentence in 2015. The night Jerome Kerviel turned himself to the Menton police, he was flanked by a swarm of reporters and supporters.
Although, he admitted to making the unauthorized trades but has argued that the bank turned a blind eye when they went well, but turned against him when they didn’t.
SocGen carried out an internal report that found managers at the bank had failed to follow up on tens of different alarms over Kerviel’s activities. A number of resignations followed, but no other charges were pressed.
More so, his return home is something of an endpoint to a saga that goes from huge unauthorized trades on the eve of the financial crisis to a pilgrimage and papal meeting.
Jerome Kerviel’s Net Worth
Jerome Kerviel has a net worth of -$6.7 billion and he is the poorest man in the world. If the debts he owes to the French bank Societe Generale for fraudulent trading were assets, Kerviel would have become one of America’s top 50 richest persons.
According to SocGen, Kerviel was tasked with identifying differences between the prices of equity derivatives and cash equities and “began creating the phony trades in late 2006 and early 2007; nonetheless, these transactions were relatively small; the fake trading rose in frequency, and scale.”
However, they have accused him of exceeding his power to participate in illicit trades reaching up to €49.9 billion, a sum significantly bigger than the bank’s total market value.
Bank authorities believe that throughout 2007, he had been trading profitably in anticipation of dropping market prices. Kerviel made deliberate losses in trades to balance his early gains in an effort to hide the activity.
The BBC reports that at the start of 2008, the poorest person in the world made €1.4 billion in unreported profits. On January 19, 2008, his employers claim to have discovered illegal trade linked to Kerviel.
The market saw a sharp decline in equities indexes when SocGen closed down these holdings over the course of three trading days starting on January 21, 2008; the losses associated are estimated at €4.9 billion ($7 billion).
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Conclusion
Despitethefactthatthechargesagainsthimcarryamaximumsentenceofthreeyearsinjail,heservedlessthanfivemonthsinprisonandwasfreedonSeptember8,2014. HeiscurrentlyemployedatLemaire’sconsultancyfirmasanITconsultant.
However, the poorest person in the world may have to pay a portion of his wages into a fund for the rest of his life, but given that he will never, ever be able to pay off his vast debt, you might say he is the poorest man on the planet.
However, comparing his situation to the children in Africa, such as the Congo, or Asian countries, such as Cambodia. There are children and adults that are homeless. People who live on $1 a day that has no food, no water, no clothes, and no shelter.
If you asked them if they would exchange lives with Jerome Kerviel, I’m sure they would say yes because he has food, clothing, shelter, and water and will never go hungry.
In a single year, Jerome Kerviel amassed more wealth than entire countries and regions will ever see. But at the same time, he also has debt that will never be paid off.
So on paper, Jerome Kerviel is the poorest man in the world, but there are still billions who can’t even afford basic needs. And can we call them the poorest n the world, considering all that has happened in the life of Jerome Kerviel?
Top 10 Poorest Countries In The World
The top 10 Poorest Countries In The World are classified by the UN as low-income countries. These countries consist of countries generating low GDP per capita.
The list of the poorest countries in the world consists mainly of African countries. Some of these countries are facing some challenges that make life difficult for them.
They are poor not because they do not hustle or because they do not work hard but due to challenges such as civil war, overpopulation, illness, malnutrition, poor education, and so on, they are counted among the poorest countries in the world.
The table below contains the name and GDP Percapital of the poorest countries in the world
| Rank | Country | GDP Per Capita | President |
| 1 | Burundi | $270 | Evariste Ndayishimiye |
| 2 | Somalia | $310 | Hassan Sheikh Mohamud |
| 3 | Mozambique | $460 | Filipe Nyusi |
| 4 | Madagascar | $480 | Andry Rajoelina |
| 5 | Sierra Leone | $490 | Julius Maada Bio |
| 6 | Afghanistan | $500 | Taliban |
| 7 | Central African Republic | $510 | Faustin Archange Touadera |
| 8 | Liberia | $530 | George Weah |
| 9 | Niger | $540 | Mohamed Bazoum |
| 10 | Democratic Republic of Congo | $550 | Felix Tshisekedi |
1. Burundi – $270 GDP Per Capita
Burundi which has its capital as Gitega is the poorest country in the world as of 2022. It is a country in the African continent with a population of about 11.89 million.
Burundi is one of the countries that is self-sufficient in food production but its low generating income is attributed to the ongoing civil unrest, overpopulation, and soil erosion which has contributed to the contraction of the subsistence economy by 25% in recent years.
2. Somalia – $310 GDP Per Capita
The second poorest country in the world is Somalia with a total population of 15.89 million. It is a country in the Horn of Africa.
Political fragmentation and decades of civil war have made Somalia one of the poorest countries in the World and sub-Saharan Africa, and nearly 7 out of every 10 Somalia live in poverty.
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3. Mozambique – $460 GDP Per Capita
Among the 10 poorest countries in the world is Mozambique, a country located in Southeastern Africa.
However, the country is one of the poorest countries in the world ranking low in GDP per capita, human development, measures of inequality, and average life expectancy. Mozambique has a total population of 31.26 million.
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4. Madagascar – $480 GDP Per Capita
On the top list of the poorest countries in the World is Madagascar. It is a country in Africa that has wealth of abundance and diverse natural resources and that is why people refer to it as home to some of the world’s most unique flora and fauna.
Despite a wealth of abundant and diverse natural resources, Madagascar has some environmental problems which contribute to its low income on GDP per capita. Some of these top problems are:
- Agricultural fires
- Erosion and soil degradation
- Over-exploitation of living resources including hunting and over-collection of species from the wild
- Introduction of alien species.
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5. Sierra Leone – $490 GDP Per Capita
Sierra Leone is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa and one of the poorest countries in the world. The country is a secular nation that has a constitution providing for the separation of state and religion and freedom of conscience.
Its population is about 7.977 million with Freetown as the Capital.
The dramatic consequences on the economy of the country can be traced to be caused by decades of economic decline and 11 years of armed conflict.
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6. Afghanistan – $500 GDP Per Capita
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of 38.93 million. Poverty in the country is widespread in rural and urban areas.
Officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and South Asia with Kabul as the Capital.
7. Central African Republic – $510 GDP Per Capita
Currently, an African country called the Central African Republic with an estimated population of 4.7 million is one of the poorest countries in the world.
This country has had an ongoing civil war since 2012 till date. This country remains poor despite its significant mineral deposits and other resources such as:
- Uranium reserves
- Crude Oil
- Gold
- Diamonds
- Cobalt
- Lumber
- hydropower
- Quantities of Arable Land
8. Liberia – $530 GDP Per Capita
Liberia is bordered to its northwest by Sierra Leone, its north by Guinea, its east by Ivory Coast, and its south and southwest by the Atlantic Ocean are one of the poorest countries in the world.
It is a country in West Africa that has a population of around 5 million. Despite its low population, natural wealth, and favorable geographical location Liberia is still one of the poorest countries in the world.
9. Niger – $540 GDP Per Capita
Niger known for its largest Uranium deposits is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Though its economy is based on subsistence agriculture, like crops and livestock, and the export of raw commodities, it still did not lift the GDP per capita of the country.
Niger officially the Republic of Niger is a country in West Africa with a population of 24.21 million.
