Cape Verde

POVERTY IN THE ARCHIPELAGO of Cape Verde is a result of lack of natural resources, a crowded job market, and poor agricultural conditions. Although in the mid-1990s, nearly half of the population of Cape Verde lived below the national poverty line, conditions have steadily improved and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has recently declared the islands to be a medium developed country (MDC). Existing in this developmental margin means that while some of Cape Verde's poverty problem has been alleviated, the country is still a nation at risk of pervasive impoverishment. The persistent problems affecting poverty in Cape Verde include a high unemployment rate (16 percent) and the fact that at best, Cape Verde can supply food for only 15 percent of its population, relying heavily on international food aid.

Emigration and migration as a result of insufficient resources and opportunities have been a consistent theme in the history of Cape Verde. Today it is estimated that as many Cape Verdeans live outside the country as within, and the economy is greatly bolstered by support from its diasporan community. This trend of emigration is a major factor stifling the development of Cape Verde, because half of the employable population works in foreign markets. Domestic migration has overwhelmingly been from rural to urban areas, where well over half the population resides, and where the service and manufacturing industries provide 70 percent of the nation's jobs.

This migration has caused a great strain on available social services in city centers and the saturation of the job market, which accounts for some of the unemployment and poverty in Cape Verde. The government of Cape Verde has both implemented a welfare program and has widely instituted public works projects, which provide permanent and temporary employment as well as public services in order to alleviate these pressures. However, poverty in Cape Verde is frequently believed to be a result of the structural inferiority of a young nation, in regard to the equitable dispersion of employment, healthcare, education, and sanitation facilities and the improper management of the public works programs. The country had only been independent for 30 years in 2005.

A large portion of the poverty in Cape Verde lies in the rural regions, where a quarter of the employed population shares less than seven percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Poor agricultural conditions resulting from persistent drought and a nationwide scarcity of fresh water yield erratic harvests from year to year. Periodic [Page 118]famine as a result of crop decimation is the cause of widespread hunger and poverty on the islands.

Farmers or agriculturalists in Cape Verde maintain a tenuous existence wherein their economic security is frequently upset by a harsh climate, which is known for decimating entire harvests every few years. This level of economic risk and uncertainly extends beyond the agricultural sector to be a theme for Cape Verde's economic fragility. Relying heavily on international aid (both nutritional and monetary), support from the diasporan community and international trade, all of which are not secure resource streams, poverty in Cape Verde is dependent on variables that are outside the citizens’ control, and thus subject to sporadic fluctuation. While Cape Verde is now enjoying a period of economic growth and prosperity, its future sustenance hangs in the balance.

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