Libya

Economy & income

Currency

• Libyan Dinar (LYD, ل.د / LD)
• ~6.3 per USD official CBL rate (Jul 2026, up from ~5.4 after Dec 2025 devaluation)
• parallel/black-market rate higher (~7+)

GDP per capita

• ~$6,000 nominal (2025, IMF WEO — oil-dependent, volatile)
• ~$18,100 PPP (2025, World Economics est.; World Bank ~$13,950 PPP for 2024)

Average salary

• ~$370/mo net (~2,350 LYD, worldsalaries est. 2025-26)
• public-sector entry ~1,000 LYD (~$160/mo), senior Grade-16 ~3,200 LYD (~$500) under Law 18/2023

Median salary

• ~$370/mo (~2,350 LYD, worldsalaries 2025)
• reliable official median n/a — divided economy, oil-driven public payroll, chronic liquidity crisis

Minimum wage

• ~1,000 LYD/mo public minimum under Law 18/2023 (~$160/mo)
• older statutory floor ~450 LYD
• enforcement uneven across split governments

Cost of living

• Low — Numbeo ~72% below US, rent ~87% below (Jun 2026)
• single person ~3,328 LYD/mo excl. rent
• Numbeo sample thin & FX-volatile due to devaluation + heavy fuel/food subsidies

Digital landscape

Population

7.42 million (Jan 2025)

Internet users

88.5% (~6.57 million users)

Social media users

86.3% (~6.40 million identities, +8.5% YoY)

Mobile connections

14.6 million cellular connections = 197% of population

Devices

mobile ~61.1% / desktop ~37.8% / tablet ~1.1% (StatCounter, Jun 2026)

Ad spend

• n/a — no published Libya-specific digital ad-spend figure (DataReportal/CBL)
• small, informal market
• Meta ad reach (~6.4M FB) is the usual planning proxy
• digital ~n/a

Top social platforms

Facebook ~6.40M, 86% — dominant, Meta ad reach

TikTok ~5.03M adults 18+ — fast-growing among under-25s

Messenger ~4.65M, Meta reach

Instagram ~2.10M, 28%

LinkedIn ~620K, 8.4%

X/Twitter ~560K, 7.5%

Messengers

• WhatsApp (leading everyday IM)
• Facebook Messenger (~4.65M Meta reach)
• Telegram (news/channels)
• imo (calls, common in region)

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Cash / Cash-on-Delivery in LYD (dominant for e-commerce — liquidity crisis + low card trust)
• Local bank cards via Moamalat / Nomu network (domestic only)
• Mobile money — Sadad (Al-Madar), Edfali/Adfali (Bank of Commerce & Development), MobiCash (Wahda Bank)
• Online payment gateways — Plutu, T-Lync, DPay (aggregate the above)
• Bank transfer (slow, liquidity-constrained)

E-wallets

• Sadad
• Edfali (Adfali)
• MobiCash
• Moamalat
• T-Lync
• Nafurah

Cash on delivery

• Very high — cash/COD is the default for online orders
• card and prepaid rails are thin and domestically siloed

E-commerce

• Low but emerging
• informal social commerce (Facebook/Instagram shops, WhatsApp ordering) dominates
• formal gateways (Plutu, T-Lync) growing

Notes

• Chronic bank-cash liquidity crisis accelerated mobile-money adoption
• International cards (Visa/Mastercard issuance) are limited and PayPal/Stripe are unavailable, so cross-border settlement is hard — most sales close in cash on delivery.

Audience & culture

Languages

• Arabic (official; Libyan Arabic spoken by ~95%+)
• Berber/Amazigh languages (~5-10% — Nafusi, Tamasheq/Tuareg, Ghadamis)
• English (business & youth, growing)
• Italian (older generation, residual)

Religion

• Islam ~96.6% (Sunni majority; Ibadi minority ~4.5-6% in Jebel Nefusa)
• tiny Christian (Coptic/Catholic) expat minority

Median age

27.7 years (DataReportal, Jan 2025)

Key seasons

• Ramadan (peak late-night mobile use & spending)
• Eid al-Fitr & Eid al-Adha (gifting, shopping, travel)
• Back-to-school (Sep)
• Summer Jun-Aug (diaspora returns, weddings)
• Mawlid / Prophet's Birthday

Cultural notes

• Overwhelmingly mobile and Facebook/TikTok-centric
• Creatives must be conservative (modest imagery; no alcohol, gambling, dating or interest-loan angles)
• Arabic copy is essential
• Ramadan shifts activity to late nights
• Large, engaged diaspora in Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey and Europe.

Where to find creators

• Facebook
• TikTok
• Instagram
• YouTube

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Celebrities

Hamid Al Shaeri ~216K Instagram

Libyan-Egyptian singer/producer, pioneer of 'El Geel' Arabic pop

Bahjat (Bahjat Etorjman) ~179K Instagram

Libyan pop singer, promotes 'A-pop'

H

Hamdou Elhouni ~322K Instagram

Footballer — winger for Wydad AC & Libya NT (ex-Espérance, Benfica)

A

Ahmed Fakroun n/a precise — cult/legacy following, cross-generational

Musician, pioneer of modern Arabic world/electronic music

Ismael Tajouri-Shradi n/a precise official — MLS-era international profile

Footballer — attacker for Libya NT (ex-NYCFC/MLS, Al-Ahli Tripoli)

A

Ahmed Ben Ali n/a precise — international cult following

Benghazi reggae artist (reissued globally via Habibi Funk)

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• Nutra / COD (weight-loss, beauty, supplements — Halal)
• E-commerce & dropshipping (COD physical goods)
• Mobile apps / utilities / games
• Sweepstakes
• Crypto & forex (grey, despite ban)
• Betting (grey — blocked but latent demand via VPN)

Active networks

• AdCombo (COD nutra, MENA)
• ShakesPro (COD nutra)
• Dr.Cash / nutra-focused CPA hubs
• Everad, Terraleads (COD nutra)
• Grey iGaming partner programs (1xBet/Mostbet-style) reaching users via VPN
• Meta & Google self-serve as primary buy-side

Payouts

• Tier-3 low payouts: COD nutra CPA ~$8-18/order
• CPL/CPI low single digits
• RevShare on grey iGaming
• card-based CPA rare (low card penetration)

Competition

Low-to-moderate — underserved Tier-3 GEO with cheap CPMs, but a small formal ad market and heavy payment friction cap scalability

Seasonality

• Ramadan & Eid peaks (spending + late-night mobile use)
• summer diaspora spike
• Q4 weaker than Western markets

Traffic sources

• Facebook/Meta ads & pages
• TikTok
• Instagram
• Google / UAC
• Push & native ad networks
• Telegram / WhatsApp groups

Good to know

Capital

Tripoli

Major cities

• Tripoli
• Benghazi
• Misrata
• Bayda
• Zawiya
• Sabha
• Tobruk

Time zones

• Single zone — Eastern European Time (EET, UTC+2, Africa/Tripoli)
• no daylight saving

Android vs iOS

86% 14%

Android 86% iOS 14%

Phone brands

• Samsung (~market leader)
• Apple/iPhone (~14% OS share)
• Xiaomi/Redmi
• Tecno & Infinix (Transsion, budget)
• Huawei/Honor
• Oppo

Top e-commerce

• Facebook/Instagram shops & WhatsApp ordering (informal, dominant)
• Local marketplaces (e.g. Tawasul, Open Sooq classifieds)
• Aliexpress (cross-border, via forwarders)
• Libyan Spider / local hosting-linked stores

Peak activity

Evenings ~20:00-24:00 local (EET); much later during Ramadan; midday lull. Weekend Fri-Sat.

Creative taboos

• Avoid alcohol, gambling, pork, dating/romance, nudity/immodesty, interest-based finance, political/tribal or Gaddafi-era references
• respect Islamic norms and Ramadan.

Also worth knowing

• Cash-on-delivery + Arabic Facebook/TikTok pages are the winning combo — card checkout kills conversions.
• Very high mobile penetration and cheap CPMs make it a low-cost testing GEO, but withdrawals/settlement are the real bottleneck (no PayPal/Stripe, siloed cards).
• Large diaspora (Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Europe) can be retargeted and often has better payment access than in-country users.