9 mind-blowing facts about Venezuela's economy

Venezuela may sit on more known oil than any other nation, but it produces relatively little oil these days. From a high of 3.5 million barrels per day in the 1970s, the country produces only about 1.5 million barrels per day at present, according to Forbes. The drop-off in production can be attributed largely to poor handling of the industry following state takeovers under former presidents Hugo Chávez and Maduro.

During most of the decades following Venezuela's adoption of a democratic government in 1958 through the 1980s, the country was the richest nation in South America, according to PRI's The World. The collapse of oil prices in the 1980s and failed economic policies brought an end to its financial primacy in the region.

In what has largely been a futile effort to keep citizens out of abject poverty, Maduro routinely decrees an increase in the country's minimum wage. In January of 2019, Merco Press reports, he ordered wages raised from 4,500 to 18,000 sovereign bolivars per month, a 300% increase.

Experts estimated that a roll of toilet paper cost Venezuelans 2.6 million bolivars in 2018.

For reference, in terms of US dollars, that 2.6 million bolivar roll of toilet paper would have cost 40 cents. And at the time of the assessment, in mid-2018, inflation in Venezuela was around 1 million percent, according to NBC News.

According to World Economics Ltd.,Venezuela's gross domestic product in 2018 was approximately $276 billion. That same year, the GDP of the state of Connecticut was about $279.7 billion.

Bloomberg reports that experts estimate Venezuelan unemployment will surpass 44% this year and will likely hit the 50% mark next year. The state, however, has not released an official unemployment figure since 2016, when it claimed a 7.3% unemployment rate, according to Reuters.

Production, agriculture, and exports in Venezuela are so stymied that the country's output may fall by a quarter this year alone. That's the worst performance of any economy since Libya fell into civil war in 2014, and about the worst contraction ever experienced by any country not in a war, as calculated by the IMF.

According to the CIA Factbook, in recent years oil has accounted for almost all of Venezuela's exports, and is responsible for about half of the Venezuelan government's annual revenue.