21 Facts About Liberia

(taken from the Monrovia newspaper with some added explanation)

1. Liberia is the 4^th poorest country in the world (United Nations ranking)
2. Liberia is the 8^th unhappiest and most miserable Country in the World (UNDP)
3. Liberia is the 8^th hungriest nation (Concern International)
4. 230,000 Liberian children suffer from chronic malnutrition (UNICEF)
5. Liberia ranks #1 among the 10 worst countries for business in Africa (Forbes magazine)
6. Food insecurity effects 650,000 Liberians (World Food Program)
7. 65 percent of Liberian children do not attend primary school (UNICEF)
8. 76 percent of Liberians live on US$1.25 per day (United Nations)
9. Teenage pregnancy accounts for 38 percent of all live births (United Nations)
10. Youth unemployment is as high as 85 percent (United Nations)
11. Monrovia is the worst capital city in the world with a City Prosperity Initiative (CPI) ranking of 0.313. (For comparison, Oslo is #1 at 86.76, New York is #23 at 74.43, Manila is #44 at 55.81 and Nairobi is #49 at 47.77 per UN Habitat data)
12. Only 25 percent of Liberians have access to safe drinking water (WaterAid International)
13. Over 80 percent of Liberians lack access to a decent toilet (WaterAid International)
14. Out of a population of 4 million, 3.7 million Liberians lack access to adequate sanitation. (WaterAid International)
15. Over 500 children die every year from diarrhea in Liberia (WaterAid International)
16. Liberia has just 298 doctors for 4.6 million people. The doctor-patient ratio is 1:15,436 (Ministry of Health) [For comparison, Switzerland has 3.6 per 1,000, the United States has 2.3 per 1,000, Kenya has 0.14 per 1,000 and Liberia 0.03 per 1,000]
17. Liberia imports over US$200 million worth of rice even though it has 4.6 million hectare of arable land (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN)
18. The infant mortality rate in Liberia is 52.2 deaths to every 1,000 live births (CIA World Factbook) [For comparison, the United States is 6.86 per 1,000 and Japan is 2.0 per 1,000]
19. The maternal mortality rate in Liberia is 725deaths to every 100,000 live births (CIA World Factbook) [For comparison, while Sierra Leone is #1 at 1,360, the United States is #138 at 14, and Greece is #184 at just 3]
20. Out of 111 countries, Liberia ranks 101on the Global Hunger Index (United Nations)
21. Out of 188 countries, Liberia ranks 177 on the Human Development Index (United Nations)