The Most Underdeveloped Nations in The World

GUINEA-BISSAU (175)

Since independence from Portugal in 1974, Guinea-Bissau has experienced considerable political and military upheaval. In 1980, a military coup established authoritarian dictator Joao Bernardo ‘Nino’ Vieira as president.

Despite setting a path to a market economy and multiparty system, Vieira ’s regime was characterized by the suppression of political opposition and the purging of political rivals. Several coup attempts through the 1980s and early 1990s failed to unseat him.

In 1994 Vieira was elected president in the country’s first free elections. A military mutiny and resulting civil war in 1998  led to Vieira ’s ouster in May 1999. In February 2000, a transitional government turned  over power to opposition leader Kumba Yala, after he was elected president in transparent polling. In September 2003, after only three years in office, Yala was ousted by the military in a bloodless coup, and businessman Henrique Rosa was sworn in as interim president.

In 2005,  Vieira was re-elected president and was assassinated in 2009. An election was held in June won by Malam Bacai Sanha.

One of the poorest countries in the world, Guinea-Bissau depends mainly on farming and fishing. Cashew crops have increased remarkably in recent years, and the country now ranks sixth in cashew production.

Offshore oil prospecting is underway in several sectors but has not yet led to commercially viable crude deposits. The inequality of income distribution is one of the most extreme in the world.

In December 2003, the World Bank, IMF, and UNDP were forced to step in to provide emergency budgetary support in the amount of $107 million for 2004, representing over 80% of the total national budget.

Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest nations in the world.  In 2005 durg traffickers based in Latin America began to use the country as a transhipment point to Europe, it has become what is called a ‘narco-state.’

BURKINO FASO (176)

Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) achieved independence from France in 1960. Repeated military coups during the 1970s and 1980s were followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s. President Blaise Compaore came to power in a 1987 military coup and has won every election since then.

Burkina Faso’s high population density and limited natural resources result in poor economic prospects for the majority of its citizens. Unrest in Cote d’Ivoire and northern Ghana has hindered the ability of several hundred thousand seasonal Burkinabe farm workers to find employment in neighboring countries.

One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. About 90% of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, which is vulnerable to periodic drought.

Cotton is the main cash crop and the government has joined with three other cotton producing countries in the region – Mali, Niger, and Chad – to lobby in the World Trade Organization for fewer subsidies to producers in other competing countries.

Since 1998, Burkina Faso has embarked upon a gradual but successful  privatization of state owned enterprises. Having revised its investment code in 2004, Burkina Faso hopes to attract foreign investors. Thanks to this new code and other legislation favoring the mining sector, the country has seen an upswing in gold exploration and production.

SIERRA LEON (177)

Democracy is slowly being reestablished after the civil war from 1991 to 2002 that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people (about one-third of the population).

The military, which took over full responsibility for security following the departure of UN peacekeepers at the end of 2005, is increasingly developing as a guarantor of the country’s stability. The armed forces remained on the sideline during the 2007 presidential election, but still look to the UN Integrated Office in Sierra Leone (UNIOSIL) – a civilian UN mission – to support efforts to consolidate peace. The new government’s priorities include furthering development, creating jobs, and stamping out endemic corruption.

Sierra Leone is an extremely poor nation with tremendous inequality in income distribution. While it possesses substantial mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources, its physical and social infrastructure is not well developed, and serious social disorders continue to hamper economic development. Nearly half of the working-age population engages in subsistence agriculture.

Manufacturing consists mainly of the processing of raw materials and of light manufacturing for the domestic market. Alluvial diamond mining remains the major source of hard currency earnings accounting for nearly half of Sierra Leone’s exports.  These are the ‘blood diamonds’  though there has been effort at certification.

The fate of the economy depends upon the maintenance of domestic peace and the continued receipt of substantial aid from abroad, which is essential to offset the severe trade imbalance and supplement government revenues.

It has attained the lowest rank due to the high level of corruption and suppression of human rights and having the lowest life expectancy at 41 years.

Like Guinea-Bissau it is a narco state, used for the transhipment of drugs into Europe.