Note: The menu shows the 36 African countries where Africare has worked, not the other African countries.

 

Eritrea (Map courtesy of The World Factbook)

Eritrea

REGION: East Africa
CAPITAL CITY: Asmara
POPULATION: 4,232,000
LAND AREA: The size of Pennsylvania

Previously a part of Ethiopia, Eritrea became independent via a nearly unanimous referendum in 1993. Since that time, however, border tensions between the two countries have persisted — erupting into a devastating war from 1998 to 2000 and simmering to the present day. Eritrea's economy is based upon farming and livestock herding, which engage some 80 percent of the population. Yet most food producers remain at the subsistence level. Among the challenges they face are frequent droughts, desertification and other losses of arable land, locust swarms and infrastructural devastation in the aftermath of war. The country has rebuilt much of its infrastructure, but more rebuilding lies ahead.
           

Country Stats

Life expectancy: 56.6 years (USA: 77.9)

Under-5 child mortality: 78/1,000 live births (USA: 7/1,000)

HIV prevalence, ages 15-49: [1.3 - 3.9]% (USA: [0.4 - 1.0]%)

Physicians per 100,000 people: 5 (USA: 256)

People undernourished: 75% (USA: 0%)

People with access to safe drinking water: 60% (USA: 100%)

Adult literacy: 60.5%* (USA: 99%)

Annual income, one way to look at it (GDP per capita, PPP US$): $1,109 (USA: $41,890)

Annual income, another way to look at it (GDP per capita): $220 (USA: $41,890)

People living on less than $1 a day: Not available (USA: 0%)

(HIV prevalence statistics, UNAIDS. All other statistics, 2007/2008 Human Development Report, UNDP: asterisk* means approximate value.)

 

(Updated, Dec. 18, 2007)