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

 

Senegal (Map courtesy of The World Factbook)

Senegal

REGION: West Africa
CAPITAL CITY: Dakar
POPULATION: 11,386,000
LAND AREA: The size of South Dakota

Independent Senegal's first president, Léopold Senghor, presided over a socialist system of rule from 1960 to 1980. (Senghor also was a poet; and with fellow artists, he helped create négritude, an intellectual movement that asserted distinctive African characteristics, values and aesthetics.) Democratic elections were first held in 2000, Senegal has maintained a stable democratic government ever since ― despite a low-level separatist struggle in the southern Casamance region ― and it has contributed significantly to regional peacekeeping. However, its people on the whole remain poor, lack adequate health services and cope with environmental issues such as drought and desertification. Senegal is continental Africa's westernmost country. Gorée Island, a short boat ride from the capital city of Dakar, was a major departure point for slave ships in the 17th and 18th centuries.

 

Country Stats

Life expectancy: 62.3 years (USA: 77.9)

Under-5 child mortality: 136/1,000 live births (USA: 7/1,000)

HIV prevalence, ages 15-49: [0.4 - 1.5]% (USA: [0.4 - 1.0]%)

Physicians per 100,000 people: 6 (USA: 256)

People undernourished: 20% (USA: 0%)

People with access to safe drinking water: 76% (USA: 100%)

Adult literacy: 39.3% (USA: 99%)

Annual income, one way to look at it (GDP per capita, PPP US$): $1,792 (USA: $41,890)

Annual income, another way to look at it (GDP per capita): $707 (USA: $41,890)

People living on less than $1 a day: 17% (USA: 0%)

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

 

(Updated, Dec. 18, 2007)