Chad

Chad, a former French colony in central Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. The country's development has been hampered by a series of civil wars since independence in 1960, as well as by internal corruption and the spillover of warfare from neighboring countries. Islam is the most common [Page 241]religion (53.1 percent), followed by Catholicism (20.1 percent), Protestantism (14.2 percent), and animist religions (7.3 percent).

Chad's 2009 per capita gross domestic product was estimated to be $1,500; 80 percent of the population is estimated to live below the poverty level. Most people live on subsistence agriculture and raising livestock-processes disrupted because internal warfare forced them to become internally displaced persons. Chad also harbors many refugees from the conflicts in the neighboring ...