Niger
With a poverty rate of 44.1%, Niger is ranked among the world’s poorest nations by the UN.
A vast, arid state on the edge of the Sahara desert, which covers 65% of the country, Niger has an estimated population of 22 million and one of the highest population growth rates in the world (3.9% annually). Largely agrarian, the country is prone to political instability, chronic food insecurity and recurrent natural crises (droughts, floods, and locust infestations), and is heavily reliant on uranium exports. Niger is also facing increased security concerns on its borders from various external threats including insecurity in Libya, spill over from the conflict in Mali and violent extremism in northeaster Nigeria. (Sources: UNICEF 2017, UNDP 2018; UNAIDS 2017; World Bank 2017)
- total population (thousands)
- 22,858
- GNI per capita
- 420$
- Life expectancy at birth
- 60 years
- Human Development Index
- 189 (out of 189)
- Under-5 mortality rate
- 91‰
- Primary school net enrolment
- 62%
- Adult HIV prevalence (% of the population)
- 0.3%
- People of all ages living with HIV (thousands)
- 38
- improved access to safe water (% of the population)
- 46%%
- moderate-severe underweight (% children under-5)
- 33%