Madagascar is an island with many plentiful, natural resources specific only to that island. Also, Madagascar has many beautiful white sand, blue water beaches that attract people from around the world. Therefor, these are the main business that constantly keep Madagascar alive: trade, farming, mining, and tourism. The unemployment rate in Madagascar is very low. Historically, although France did had many negative impacts upon the island, they did help the natives by introducing products such as coffee, sugarcane, vanilla, cloves, graphite, chromite, and uranium to harvest, sell, and export. Because of this, many jobs today in Madagascar still revolve around agriculture, the land, mining, and tourism. Consequently, the education in Madagascar is little because the jobs that most people obtain do not require much schooling. The healthcare in Madagascar is also under par, and a large amount of the native population of Madagascar children are malnourished.
Despite recent progress that Madagascar has made economy-wise, it can not currently be considered anything but a poor and corrupt country. Of Madagascar's 22.9 million person population, around 72% of the people live below the poverty line. The healthcare and education in Madagascar is suffering: for example, according to a US congress report, Madagascar's infant mortality rate is more than 5% and 3/4 of the population is living in rural areas (Madagascar - the untold crisis). To make a bad situation worse, Madagascar is prone to natural disasters and problems including droughts, floods, cyclones, deforestation, and water pollution. Madagascar's current economic difficulty can all be traced back to the unstable and corrupt governmental situation. Madagascar has been in a political crisis since 2009. Natascha Paddison from UNRIC explains, "The main political opposition leaders ate living in exile in South Africa and France. The political impasse makes humanitarian help very difficult" (Madagascar- the untold crisis). Also, it is believed that high powers in the government are causing damage to the environment through illegal foresting and monopolization of mining businesses. It is believed that the government is only allowing themselves to prosper, letting the rest of the population to suffer. To conclude, Madagascar can 'stay alive' through its constant businesses of mining, trading, tourism, and agriculture production. However, too many problems within the government and environment are occurring for the population of Madagascar to handle without falling into poverty. |
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