top 10 poorest countries in the world 2010

8/4/2019 Top 10 Poorest Countries in the World 2010

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Top 10 poorest countries in the world 2010

by Roman on April 21, 2010

Here is a list of the top 10 poorest countries in the world according to data gathered by theInternational Monetary Fundand theCIA Wrold Factbook. As you might have guessed 9 out of10 poorest countries in the world are situated in Africa. The wealth of a country is measured byGDP per capita and it stands for the average value of goods and services a person producedliving his country

This post is written thanks to a lot of people reading my articleTop 10 richest countries in theworld and also wanting to know about the worlds poorest countries. Your support andcomments are valuable to me. Thank you!

10. Afghanistan $800 (GDP per capita)

Afghanistan villagers moving their camp

Afghanistan is probably the only poorest county in the world that doesnt needany introduction. Thanks to the plane crashes of 9/11 and the subsequent American quest forrevenge almost everyone knows of this poor landlocked South Asian country. What many peopledont realize however is that the country that gave birth to the worlds foremost terrorist Osama

Bin Laden is actually called the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. It is a public secret however
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that history has never seen Afghanistan lose a war. They might be one of the poorest but theyknow how to fight. Instead of a traditional army they simply resist with small counter attacks thateventually tire out the enemy.

Over 70% of Afghanis live with less than 2$ a day. To make money a lot of people have gone

into drug trafficking. Afghanistan is the worlds largest exporter of heroin. The drug problem inthis poor country is so large that a drug test in the Afghanistan police force showed that 17% ofthe countries police officers had lately used drugs. Even worseonly 30% of the police canread! No wonder Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world.

9. Central African Republic $754

Women in Central African Republic fixing dinner with their children

As the unoriginal name suggest this former French colony is right in the middle ofAfrica. Being among 1 of the poorest countries in the world means that the governmentalcontrol of the country is extremely weak. The well-being of the population is entirely dependenton foreign aid and numerous non profit organizations. The very present of aid workers in thecountry is the largest source of revenue for Central Africans. An estimated 40% of importrevenue comes from selling diamonds mined from the countries rich land.

Like other poor African countries in this list the Central African Republic is actually self-sufficient in food but still a lot of people suffer from malnutrition and famine. This is becausefarm owners rather sell their crops to foreign countries with money than to give it all awaycheaply to the fellow countrymen. In 2006 rebel forces not satisfied with the way things weregoing attacked government forces, leaving another 50 000 people to die of starvation.
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8. Sierra Leone $747

Children carrying water near Freetown, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is a poor west African country that has English as its officiallanguage. Over the years however the locals have used English to derive their own languagecalledKrio.It uses English vocabulary but the grammar comes from 12 different Africanlanguages. As is the case with a lot of the top 10 poorest countries, Sierra Leone is also one ofthe largest diamond manufacturers of the world. If you have seen the movieBlood Diamondyoushould know that it is based on Sierra Leone.

Between 1991-2001 about 50 000 people were killed in the countries civil war, leaving the

people even poorer than they were before. At least 500 000 people fled to neighboring Guineaand Liberia. While everyone is required to go to school, the shortage of schools means that thelaw requiring to get an education can not be followed. About 66% of adults are illiterate. Thehealth care system also leaves a lot to complain about. Sierra Leone has one of the highest infantmortality rates and lowest life expectancy in the world. No wonder Sierra Leone is one of thepoorest countries of the world.

7. Eritrea$739
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A typical wedding ceremony dance in Eritrea

The location of Eritrea gives it an advantage of controlling the sea routethrough the Suez Canal. This is why Italy made it its colony just a year after the opening of thecanal in 1869 and why the British conquered it in 1941. In the present Eritrea has been accusedby the USA of having relations with terrorists. In 2009 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

accused Eritrea in supplying weapons to Somalian militant group al-Shabab which is believed tohave relations with Al Qaeda.

In history it is known that the Egyptian pharaohs used Eritrea as a source of war elephants.Lately however the elephants are almost wiped out from the country. During 1955 and 2001 noelephants were sighted. It is believed that they have fallen victims to the ongoing wars in Eritrea.The whole country only has 824 schools and 2 universitiesunnecessary to say illiteracy is ahuge problem. No wonder Eritrea is one of the poorest countries in the world.

6. Niger $736
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People fleeing the poor Niger

Niger is one of the poorest countries in Africaover 80% of its land is covered bythe giant desert of Sahara. While it might seem like a hostile place to live it is actually evenworseongoing droughts are leading to more desertification. One day the whole Republic ofNiger might be swallowed by the mighty desert. Currently most of its terrain is made up of desertplains and sand dunes with some savanna around the Niger river. Over 5000 years ago the sameland was actually covered with fertile grasslandsthe desertification has took place in the last2000 years.

While the country is over twice the size France, it only has less than 10 000 km of roads ofwhich less than 800 km is paved. All the paved roads are inside the cities. There are no pavedroads connecting the cities to each other. Niger is the worlds largest exporter of uranium. Justlike other countries in the top 10 poorest countries of the world list, only about 1 in 4 personshave ever attended school. Niger also boasts a small armyit has about 12000 troops and 4aircrafts .

5. Somalia$600
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Traditional house in poor Somalian village

Unlike many African countries Somalia has never been officially colonized by anycountry. The efforts of the British Empire were successfully driven back at least 4 times. WhileSomalia is situated in Eastern Africa it has close ties to the Arab world. As a Muslim country italso belongs to the Arab League. Probably because of its Islamic background Somalia has one ofthe lowest HIV and Aids infection rates. Somalias friendship with the Soviet Union enabled it to

build the largest military in Africaunfortunately it proved ineffective to withhold the civil warthat broke out in 1991.

In recent years the poor people of Somalia have found a new way to make moneyhijackinginternational boats and taking the crew and the cargo as hostage. Piracy in Somalia has becomeso common that when young boys grow up they wish to become pirates because thats where the

money is. International companies are known to pay pirates from 1 to 20 million dollars just toget the ships back. An oil tanker filled with oil can be worth a few hundred million dollars.

4. Burundi $401
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People dancing in Burundi Village

In addition to being one of the poorest countries in the world this small landlockedAfrican country is known for its wars between the inhabiting competing tribes. The reasonBurundi is so poor is because they have never really had any peaceful time between theeverlasting civil wars. Corruption, poor access to education, and a high percentage of HIV andAIDS are all the things that Burundi is known for. Approximately 80% of Burundians live inpoverty and according to the World Food Programme 57% of children under 5 years suffer fromchronic malnutrition. 93% of Burundis exports revenues come from selling coffee.

According to a study done in 178 countries the people of Burundi have the lowest lifesatisfaction in the world. As a result of poverty it is almost entirely dependent on foreign aid. Nowonder Burundi is the 4th poorest country in the world.

3. Liberia$379
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A rebel in Monrovia, Liberia, keeping watch in front of a house and car full of bullet holes

Liberia is one of the few countries in Africa that have not been colonized byEurope. Instead, Liberia was founded and colonized by the slaves who escaped from America.These slaves made up the elite of the country and they established a government that closelyresembled that of the United States of America. In 1980 the president of Liberia was overthrown

and a period of instability and civil war followed. After the killings of hundreds of thousandsLiberia is in a deep economic crisis. Statistics indicate that about 90% of the population livesbelow $1.25 a day.

As the 3rd poorest country in the world, Liberia has an unemployment rate of 85%. Just as itsneighbor Sierra Leone, Liberia was known for its blood diamonds during the civil war. As aresults the United Nations banned diamond exports from the country. Compared to the 7 childreneach women gives birth to on averagethe life expectancy of 44 years seems incredibly short.No wonder Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world!

2. Democratic Republic of the Congo$334
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A child in Congo riding a self made wooden bike

Not to be mixed with the neighboring Republic of Congo, the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo was known as Zaire until 1997. Congo is the largest country in the worldthat has French as an official languagethe population of Congo is about 1 million larger thanthe population of France (66 million people in Congo vs 65 million in France). The SecondCongo War beginning in 1998 has devastated the country. The war that involves at least 7foreign armies is the deadliest conflict in the world since World War IIit has already killed 5.4million people. In Africa the war is called African World War. It is estimated that in 2010 at least45 000 people in Congo are killed monthly.

Congo is also one of the last places on earth with tribes of cannibals. An Mbuti pygmy testifiedbefore the UN that their people were hunted down and eaten like animals by neighboring tribes.Eating other people is a way to survive the famines that is affecting about 67% of the population.Congo is also believed to be the worst place in the world for womenit has the most rapes perwomen in a year. Locals believe that sleeping with a virgin girl will cure AIDS.

1. Zimbabwe $0.1
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A traditional house in a village in Zimbabwe

Thanks to hyperinflation Zimbabwe has become the poorest country in theworld. It used to one of the 10 poorest countries but the 87.9 sextillion percent inflation has leftthe countries economy into ruins. The inflation worrying the country since 2007 saw thegovernment printing 100 billion dollar bills that were only good enough to buy a few eggs. In

August 2008 there was even a time where the government simply decided to take 10 zeroes offof every bank notsimply because they didnt fit very well. Just 6 months later they removed anadditional 12 zeroes. The 87 sextillion percent inflation meant that throughout the year priceskept doubling every 1.1 days. In other wordswhen an apple would cost 1 dollars on Monday itwould already cost 64 dollars on Sunday. In a month the same apple would cost just over 1billion dollars.
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A boy in Zimbabwe going shopping with the equivalant of 3 US dollars

The largest bank note that the government of Zimbabwe released was the 100 trillion dollar bill

issued on January 2009. In addition to the economic problems the life expectancy of Zimbabweis the lowest in the world37 years for men and just 34 for women. One of the problems for theearly deaths are the 20.1% of the population with HIV and AIDS. The health issues arent seeing

any improvementin 2009 3 of the 4 largest hospitals and the countries only medical schoolwas shut down.

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top 10 poorest countries in the world 2010

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