Meet the World’s Poorest President Who Lives on a Farm & Drives a 1987 Beetle

He lives on a farm, and his official car
is a 1987 Volkswagen Beetle. He
donates 90% of his monthly salary to
charity. President of Uruguay, Jose
Mujica, is not your average president.
It is commonplace to see some presidents of
countries living lavish lifestyles, and in some
extreme cases, looting their countries'
finances for personal gain. But not Mujica.

He is commonly known as the world's
"poorest" president because of his
austere lifestyle

Mujica rejected the luxurious presidential
residence the government provided for him
and instead opted to live on his wife's farm
located on a dirt road outside the country's
capital. They have no domestic workers –
they do all the farm work by themselves. The
only staff they have are two police officers.

In 2010, his annual personal wealth
declaration – mandatory for officials in
Uruguay – was $1,800, the value of his
Beetle.
In an interview with BBC, he said:

"I've lived like this most of my life, I can
live well with what I have
I'm called 'the poorest president', but I
don't feel poor. Poor people are those
who only work to try to keep an
expensive lifestyle, and always want
more and more.

This is a matter of freedom. If you don't
have many possessions then you don't need to
work all your life like a slave to sustain them,
and therefore you have more time for
yourself…"
Mujica also has unique views about poverty
alleviation. In the 2012 Rio+20 summit he
stated:

But what are we thinking? Do we want the
model of development and consumption of
the rich countries? I ask you now: what would
happen to this planet if Indians would have
the same proportion of cars per household
than Germans? How much oxygen would we
have left?

"Does this planet have enough resources
so seven or eight billion can have the
same level of consumption and waste
that today is seen in rich societies? It is
this level of hyper-consumption that is
harming our planet.
An Arab sheikh recently offered him $1
million for his Beetle. Mujica is currently
considering the offer, and says that if
he does sell it, he will donate the money
to charity.