poverty in Africa

Facts on Poverty in Africa www.icrossinternational.org
www.icrosskenya.org

* 325 million people – one in two of people in Sub Saharan Africa survive on less than one dollar per day
* 184 million people – 33% of the African population – suffer from malnutrition
* During the 1990s the average income per capita decreased in 20 African countries
* Less than 50% of Africa’s population has access to hospitals or doctors
* In 2000, 300 million Africans did not have access to safe water
* The average life expectancy in Africa is 41 years
* Only 57% of African children are enrolled in primary education, and only one of three children complete school
* One in six children die before the age of 5. This number is 25 times higher in sub-Saharan Africa than in the OECD countries
* Children account for half of all civilian casualties in wars in Africa
* The African continent lost more than 5,3 million hectares of forest during the decade of the 1990s
* Less than one person out of five has electricity. Out of 1.000 inhabitants 15 have a telephone line, and 7,8 out of 1.000 people surf on Internet.



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Africa is the second largest continent on earth, occupying 20% of the Earth's land area. Africa measures about 5,000 miles (8,000 km) from north to south and about 4,600 miles from east to west.
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Africa’s population is slightly less than 14% of the total world population.
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Only about 6% of Africa is arable; nearly 25% is forested or wooded.
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Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Nigeria are the major petroleum and natural gas producing countries in Africa. Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa together produce 50% of the world's diamonds. Ghana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe together produce nearly 50% of the world’s gold.
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Africa's major languages include Arabic (North), Berber (Morocco and Algeria), Bantu group of languages (central and southern Africa), Swahili (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), Akan (Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire), Saharan and Maba (Chad basin), Koma (the Blue Nile basin), and Songhai (upper-middle Niger River region).