Cameroon

Cameroon, with a projected population of 23 million inhabitants in 2015, is enriched with vast natural resource potential. Despite this, the population languishes in chronic poverty. Internal and external factors contribute to the state of endemic poverty in the country. Internal factors include poor governance and a political system that encourages inefficiency, inertia, and corruption; inadequate human capital development; inappropriate use of existing human resources; poor infrastructure; and gender income disparities that inflict poverty. Externally, skewed economic relations, such as poor trade policy instruments imposed by developed countries on developing countries, inflict serious hardship and income inequalities on society, with the marginalized poor as victims. There is a culture of poverty and a culture of affluence in Cameroon society, where both the poor and rich ...