Country profile: Niger

Niger is a landlocked and mainly desert sub-Saharan country covering almost 1.27 million sq km. Nearly 80 percent of the country is desert, and droughts are a recurring problem for a country where the majority of the population is engaged in subsistence farming. The country is at the heart of the meningitis belt and routinely reports severe meningitis epidemics. These epidemics typically strike during the dry season (from December to June) and tend to peak around April, the hottest month of the year.

Economy

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. The economy is strongly dependent on agriculture and cotton, in particular, and is clustered around the more fertile south. Guaranteeing food for its people is a major preoccupation. The country also has a variety of natural resources, in particular uranium. Niger is the third largest global producer of uranium, and it accounts for a third of the country's exports. In the future the development of oil, gold, and coal reserves could boost the economy, but for the present Niger is heavily dependent on donor contributions that account for about one half of the government's budget. In 2005 Niger qualified for multilateral debt relief from the International Monetary Fund. The economic and financial sectors are fragile and inhibit the development of income-generating activities.

Demography

Niger has an estimated population of about 14 million inhabitants with an annual population growth rate of 3.5 percent. Women have, on average, 7.3 children. Life expectancy at birth is estimated at just 42 years for men and 43 years for women. The population is overwhelmingly rural. The average population density is 12 p/km2. The population is very unevenly distributed and heavily concentrated in the south. Because of high fertility and mortality rates, Niger is a young country, with a median population age of only 16 years.

About half the population are ethnically Hausa, and many other native African languages are spoken. French is the official language of government. Niger is an overwhelmingly Muslim country (over 90 percent of the population).

Development

Niger ranks 174 out of 177 countries in the development index compiled by the United Nations Development Program. Despite efforts at improving education, literacy rates are low at 29.8 percent (44 percent for men, 16 percent for women). According to 2006 data almost 40 percent of children under five are underweight in Niger.

Niger has a poor record in education. In 2001 the government, with outside assistance, embarked on a program to increase school enrollment rates. This project has been responsible for modest but steady improvements in primary school attendance. Currently 36 percent of girls are in primary education, and 49 percent of the boys. These figures mask great variation between rural and urban areas. Koran schools are still common.

The lack of schools and teachers in rural areas, especially where the population is nomadic remains a problem. Endemic poverty is the main reason so few children attend school. Many children have to help out in providing family income. Parents also cannot afford the cost of supplies. 

There is a big difference in access to acceptable drinking water in rural and urban areas, ranging from 32 percent to 91 percent respectively. Access to acceptable sanitation is also unequally distributed: in urban areas 27 percent of the population has access to an acceptable sanitation system, but this drops to just 3 percent in rural areas. The widespread unregulated dumping of waste is detrimental to the proliferation of vectors of illnesses.

Niger's health system is limited due to a lack of facilities and staff. For instance, in 2004 there were just 377 doctors in Niger, a ratio of 0.03 per 10,000 population. In poor rural areas the ratio is worse. Over a third of health staff is in Niamey, the country's capital. Routine childhood vaccinations according to the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) reach between 40 and 50 percent of children. Improving the quality and accessibility of health services is one of the areas targeted in the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Photo: Umit Kartoglu.