West Africa

Donors attending Monday’s pledging conference in Brussels must address a massive funding shortfall – over $900 million - on work needed to tackle the food crisis in the Sahel.

The current food crisis in Niger is likely to escalate into a full-scale humanitarian emergency if urgent action is not taken, international agency Oxfam warned today. Already, 1.9 million people are at severe risk, and by April, this number could rise to 3.5 million people if help doesn’t come now, according to the National Early Warning System.

Mauritania is one of the largest and least populated countries of West Africa. Despite the country’s huge reserves of resources (fish, iron, oil, gold, etc.), more than 16.6% of the population lives below the extreme poverty line.

The continuing conflict in the Central African Republic has displaced tens of thousands of people both internally within the country and within neighboring states. This fragile state has left many families struggling to meet their basic needs. 

Ghana has seen tremendous progress in development and poverty reduction in the last two decades. But its success has been uneven and significant inequalities still exist, especially between the south and the north where the majority of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

With a population reaching almost 7.5 million people, Sierra Leone is a country with high levels of poverty and deprivation.

Senegal is one of the most stable countries in West Africa. However, this stability barely conceals the poverty that prevails there.

Nigeria is the largest economy in West Africa, and the third largest in Africa. However, although Nigeria is considered to be a regional economic powerhouse, the levels of inequality in this country leave many needs unfulfilled. Nigeria ranks 157 out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

West Africa’s largest nation, landlocked Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, placing last in the world according to the 2018 Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

In Mali, the crisis resulting from the pro-independence and terrorist groups taking control of the North of the country from 2012 to 2013 and the coup d’état of March 2012 has created a situation of insecurity, in both the North and the center of the country.