Note: The menu shows the 36 African countries where Africare has worked, not the other African countries.

 

Niger (Map courtesy of The World Factbook)

Niger

REGION: West Africa
CAPITAL CITY: Niamey
POPULATION: 13,499,000
LAND AREA: Twice the size of Texas

Niger is predominantly desert: 80 percent of the country lies within the Sahara. The southern 20 percent is savannah, with a largely agrarian and subsistence-based economy – and recurring drought. Environmental destruction is a major concern as the desert encroaches southward. Struggling to eke consistent amounts of food from dwindling hectares of arable land, farmers unwittingly compound the damage by overfarming, overgrazing and thereby reducing soil fertility still more. Today, 11 percent of Niger's land is arable. In 2005, locust infestations added to the effects of drought, resulting in food shortage among some 2.5 million Nigeriens. Niger also has high rates of ill health, illiteracy, hunger and poverty. According to the U.N. Development Program's 2007/2008 Human Development Index, Niger is the fourth least developed country in the world.

 

Country Stats

Life expectancy: 55.8 years (USA: 77.9)

Under-5 child mortality: 256/1,000 live births (USA: 7/1,000)

HIV prevalence, ages 15-49: [0.5 - 1.9]% (USA: [0.4 - 1.0]%)

Physicians per 100,000 people: 2 (USA: 256)

People undernourished: 32% (USA: 0%)

People with access to safe drinking water: 46% (USA: 100%)

Adult literacy: 28.7% (USA: 99%)

Annual income, one way to look at it (GDP per capita, PPP US$): $781 (USA: $41,890)

Annual income, another way to look at it (GDP per capita): $244 (USA: $41,890)

People living on less than $1 a day: 60.6% (USA: 0%)

(HIV prevalence statistics, UNAIDS. All other statistics, 2007/2008 Human Development Report, UNDP)


           

(Updated, Dec. 18, 2007)