Angola

Between 1975 and 2002, the Republic of Angola was involved in a civil war that began immediately after independence from Portugal. Estimates place the human cost of the war at 1.5 million lives, and an additional 4 million people were displaced. Much of the infrastructure was destroyed during the war, and Angola's attempts to rebuild it with the assistance of a $2 billion line of credit from China have been hampered by pervasive government corruption. Angola is rich in natural resources that include petroleum, diamonds, iron ore, phosphates, copper, feldspar, gold, bauxite, and uranium. The oil industry contributes around 45 percent of the Gross Domestic Product and over 50 percent of export revenue.

With a per capita income of $3,200, Angola ranks 158th in income among nations of the world. Despite a real growth rate of 19.1 percent, 70 percent of Angolans live in poverty, and 40 percent are undernourished. Approximately 85 percent of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, chiefly at the subsistence level. Unemployment and underemployment may affect as many as 50 percent of Angolans. Most social indicators point to a threatened population: a population growth rate of 1.9 percent, an annual death rate of 25.9 deaths per 1,000/population, a life expectancy of 38.43 years, an infant mortality rate of 191.19 deaths per 1,000 live births, a fertility rate of 6.8 children per female, and a literacy rate of 66.8 percent (53.8 percent for females). The United Nations Development Program's Human Development Reports rank Angola 160 of 232 countries on overall quality-of-life issues.

The excessive HIV/AIDS rate of 3.9 percent is largly responsible for high death rates. At least 21,000 people have died from this disease, and an estimated 240,000 are living with it. Because only half the population have access to safe drinking water, and less than one-third have access to improved sanitation, Angolans have a very high risk of contracting food and waterborne diseases, which include typhoid fever and hepatitis A. Angolans are also at high risk for other severe and potentially deadly diseases, including meningococcal meningitis, a bacterial infection; and schistosomiasis, which is contracted from infected water. Some locations carry additional high risks of contracting vectorborne diseases, including malaria and African sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis).