In this project I will be aiming to learn more about the Development of Chad. There are many ways of defining developments. One of the ways I will try to understand the level of development is through how well the economy is doing, also you can look at the living conditions and the state of the public services. The sustainability is also another factor and will help understand if the economy is doing well of if it is unstable.

If you look at the sources of income that a country relies on then you can tell what factors could affect the economy and development, for example countries like America’s economies are going to be affected by the credit crunch because they are based on an economy which relies on Banks and Financial Firms, whereas Chad relies on Oil and other goods export so Oil prices could affect the economy, but I’ll get onto that later in the project.

The Economy of Chad

Economy is probably the best way of monitoring the development of Chad, because it can determine how wealthy the people of the country are and if the economy is going up then generally the standard of life in the country for all the citizens is hugely bettered.

The Economy of Chad is very unstable and uncertain. The economy is very variable due to the fact that they hugely rely on the rainfall for their crops such as cotton and that the terrain and deserts are scrappy dry land which isn’t good for growing most crops. Also the Civil wars that have gone on there have hugely disrupted life and agriculture, the main source of money for the average citizen.

Here is a chart which shows the current GDP compared to the World Leaders

Here is a chart which shows the current GDP compared to the Countries which surround its borders.

This chart shows that even though there is little wealth and prosperity in Chad they are ranked 4th out of 6, although the difference between Chad and the next biggest economy (Cameroon) is a third as big.

One of the huge sources of foreign money is the oil from the Southern province and has already brought stimulation to the economy. For the next 25 years the supply of oil is expected to raise an extra 80-100million per year for the government, although this sounds like a lot of money it is actually nothing compared to the amount of revenue it should, and also there are fears that there will be too much foreign investment that all the money that is taken from the oil will actually go to foreign countries like America, which is what is happening at the moment to China with its factories. Chad is not affected hugely by current affairs like the Credit Crunch because barely any money is invested into the country and a lot of the trade is still between other people in the same towns, whereas things like Oil prices, rainfall and crop prices could bring make or break the economy hugely.

As shown in the previous page, Chad’s economy has been going up over the last 20 years.

Chad has huge connections to France as they have a rule over Chad and have done for many years, also the neighbouring countries also add to the demand for exports.

The main export by far is cotton accounts for 40% of the total exports; also they export livestock including cattle, sheep, goats and pigs.

In conclusion the information displayed on the economy suggests that the economy is very unstable and can vary hugely year by year due to weather and conditions. Apart from the oil industry in Chad, the methods of income are fairly sustainable and wont run out anytime soon.

Although due to rebel movements and civil wars which can break out in Chad there are risks that foreign interest will decrease and that the economy could breakdown into a depression.

Public Services

Healthcare

Life expectancy is a good way of showing the quality of the healthcare, because if the healthcare is good then the average person will live longer. Infant mortality is a good way of measuring the country’s development because when you are first born you are likely to need medical care for the baby and the better the healthcare the higher the chance of babies surviving. Healthcare is important to show the development because as a country gets more and more developed, the better the quality of life gets which involves healthcare. On the CIA website Chad is ranked 206 out of 222 countries which is very low.

From the information shown on the next to pages it seems to show that Chad’s health care, life expectancy and infant mortality aren’t the worst of the neighbouring countries but compared to the more developed nations the figures are enormously different.

Below is a graph showing the life expectancy compared to the bordering countries.

(Chad, Niger, Sudan, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Libya)

Infant mortality is also a good way of measuring the country’s development because when you are first born you are likely to need medical care for the baby and the better the healthcare the higher the chance of babies surviving.

People

There are approx. 9,885,600 people in Chad, out of those people

• 13,000 have Landline phones
• 466,100 have mobile phones
• 60,000 have access to the internet
• 200,000 Live with HIV/AIDS
• 56% can read
• Live off just 8 Kilowatt hours (kWh) per year

There is 1 broadcasting centre for television and 3 radio broadcasters.

When a woman reaches 21 she has to serve in the military or perform a civic service for a year. There is no age restriction for volunteers and for conscript soldiers there is a 3-year service obligation.

(Chad, Niger, Sudan, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Libya)

In Conclusion Chad is not the worst off of the neighbouring countries in terms of communications but the difference is huge between Chad and the next best.

Conclusion

It is very hard to completely understand how developed a country is by just finding out figures and facts. And in all countries all over the world, there are huge differences between the poor and the rich and in Chad there are still areas where they are wealthy.

From the research that I have done on the density of the most wealth, the evidence seems to suggest that the further south that you go the more wealth you can find, because in the north the conditions are very dry and hard to use, whereas the land in the south has lots of oil and the land is more suited to growing crops because the land is more lush. The economy varies hugely year by year and is highly reliant on weather and peace.

General services like hospitals and the police are scarce which lowers the infant mortality and life expectancy hugely. Most births are conceived outside of hospital because people don’t have access to hospitals.

Communications in Chad are better that expected and there is fair amount of access to radios, televisions and a small amount of access to the internet. But the charts in the communication section are slightly misleading because there are more people in places like the Central Republic of Africa, but the rations are still roughly the same as the chart, because if you compare the communication and the GDP charts they follow the same patterns.

If you take all the charts and look at them side to side you will realise that they all look similar and you can tell just by glancing at them which ones are more developed because they are all higher that the others.

Chad is fairly undeveloped, but is developing and trying to catch up with the other neighbouring more well of counties. Although to advance any further they need to build up the basic necessities such as hospitals, safe water and electricity.