Social Problems
Chad is one of the world's poorest countries in the world, with the poorest people living off of less than 2 dollars a day. In 2003 over half of the population was living below the poverty line. Most of the population has health and social conditions that are inadequate. Due to the lack of rain and the climate, food shortages are widespread, and malnutrition levels in children are high. Around 40 percent of children between 0 and 6 suffer from this malnutrition, and about the same amount are undersized.
Being a landlocked country that lacks an abundant amount of natural resources, Chad has always been one of the more disadvantaged African countries. These poverty statistics are a little higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Poverty is most severe in rural areas because of all of the farmers that have inconsistent harvests. Food security is a major problem across the nation. Production of staple grains can vary widely from as little as 330,000 tons in a poor year to 1.35 million tons in a good year. These rural farming communities are also often isolated from the rest of society. Farmers do not have access to agricultural services, knowledge, and technology that they need to improve productivity. Also the lack of access to rural financial services keeps poor farmers from finding other ways to make an income and improve their productivity.
The lack of literacy and the diversity of languages also plays a role in poverty. Not being able to effectively communicate causes problems with trade and economy. Chad is considered one of the hardest countries to trade with for this reason and many others.
Poverty affects every region of Chad. The people who are most likely to be poor are those households who are headed by women, with about 23 percent of households being headed by single women, and certain ethnic castes within complex rural societies. Women form the backbone of the rural economy. These women work in the fields take care of livestock, and they are responsible for most household chores, such as caring for children, cooking, and fetching water and firewood. Women now outnumber men in Chad. Even though women have a heavy workload and family responsibilities, women are still not aloud to do certain things within society. Women's access to education, information, technology and training, and to resources such as land and rural finance are all limited. Limiting these women while expecting them to hold up the country is another reason for this extreme poverty.
Over 30 years of internal conflict and political instability have messed up social and migratory patterns and made poverty much worse in the country. The competition for the few natural resources that Chad has often creates conflict between different ethnic groups, mostly between settled farming communities and nomadic herders. These conflicts tend to slow down development and create a threat to the lives of poor rural homes. As agricultural potential slowly drops, the environment becomes worse, and socio-political threats increase, many farming communities and homes are being forced to move to areas with better agricultural potential, which increases pressure on the people in those areas and leads to the same problems as before.
Being a landlocked country that lacks an abundant amount of natural resources, Chad has always been one of the more disadvantaged African countries. These poverty statistics are a little higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Poverty is most severe in rural areas because of all of the farmers that have inconsistent harvests. Food security is a major problem across the nation. Production of staple grains can vary widely from as little as 330,000 tons in a poor year to 1.35 million tons in a good year. These rural farming communities are also often isolated from the rest of society. Farmers do not have access to agricultural services, knowledge, and technology that they need to improve productivity. Also the lack of access to rural financial services keeps poor farmers from finding other ways to make an income and improve their productivity.
The lack of literacy and the diversity of languages also plays a role in poverty. Not being able to effectively communicate causes problems with trade and economy. Chad is considered one of the hardest countries to trade with for this reason and many others.
Poverty affects every region of Chad. The people who are most likely to be poor are those households who are headed by women, with about 23 percent of households being headed by single women, and certain ethnic castes within complex rural societies. Women form the backbone of the rural economy. These women work in the fields take care of livestock, and they are responsible for most household chores, such as caring for children, cooking, and fetching water and firewood. Women now outnumber men in Chad. Even though women have a heavy workload and family responsibilities, women are still not aloud to do certain things within society. Women's access to education, information, technology and training, and to resources such as land and rural finance are all limited. Limiting these women while expecting them to hold up the country is another reason for this extreme poverty.
Over 30 years of internal conflict and political instability have messed up social and migratory patterns and made poverty much worse in the country. The competition for the few natural resources that Chad has often creates conflict between different ethnic groups, mostly between settled farming communities and nomadic herders. These conflicts tend to slow down development and create a threat to the lives of poor rural homes. As agricultural potential slowly drops, the environment becomes worse, and socio-political threats increase, many farming communities and homes are being forced to move to areas with better agricultural potential, which increases pressure on the people in those areas and leads to the same problems as before.