Kelsi Ott

11 April 2015
Poverty
Professor Barrie
Poverty in Madagascar

Imagine this, an island so big it could become the eighth continent in the world and this
island holding on to the last bits of its nickname, Rainbow Island. Madagascar is the fourth
largest island in the world while holding twenty-one million Malayo-Indonesian, African, and
Arabic ancestry groups. We can compare the size of Madagascar to the state of Texas or the
country of France. Above sea level, approximately 4,199 feet, lays the capital of Madagascar,
Antananarivo (Davis 1). This capital city holds much importance in this countries existence.
Antananarivo is the heart of political, economic, educational and cultural advances in
Madagascar (Davis 1). Due to the location of this island, in the Indian Ocean, the diversity in the
capital city is incredible. With the immense amount of diversity in the capital city one would
assume that there would be much more trading to those countries, but that is not the case. Most
of the exports are going to France, thirty-seven percent, United States, twenty-nine percent, and
Germany, five percent. But with the main industries that consume Madagascar it would make
sense why these countries are leading exporters for Madagascar. According to Madagascar and
GDP Economic Data article, this constitutes Madagascars GDP at twelve million and GDP per
capita at four hundred and thirty dollars. The United States, Germany, and France all have major
automobile industries, which would result in exports from Madagascars automobile assembly
plants. Also, with the automobile industry the needs for petroleum heighten, in turn petroleum
from Madagascar is another main export. Besides the automobile plants and petroleum, sugar,
textiles, and cement are also industries that are produced in Madagascar. When we look at the
automobile industries in Madagascar, we can find many child laborers inside those factories.
Child labor consumes twenty-eight percent,1,827,423, of workers in this country. If we look at
literacy rates, school life expectancy, and child labor numbers, it would justify the literate and
school life numbers. For an average male in Madagascar the literacy rate is sixty-seven percent.

For an average female the literacy rate is sixty-one percent. School life expectancy for both male
and female is about ten years. Then we can go back to child laborers, the ages of these children
range from five to fourteen, instead of attending school in their prime age these children are
going to automobile factories and dropping out of school. There is good and bad that is seen to
come out of this. Good because there is jobs that better able children to help their families,
however on the opposing there are bad reasons due to unemployment rates that range from age
fifteen to age twenty-four, which is caused by the lack of education these children possess. We
do not speak about these children working in any crop fields because crops in Madagascar are
thinly dispersed. Madagascar, because of its location, experiences two types of seasons, a hot,
humid, rainy season, or a dry, cold, but sunny season. There is a period of time in which crops
would be able to grow from November to April but due to an immense amount of cyclones it is
not feasible. During the other season from May to October there is not enough rain to satisfy the
needs for crops. Cyclones do not just make it difficult to grow crops; it also makes it hard for the
natives to maintain shelter. Because of Cyclone Ivan, 332,391 people homeless, but this is not
the only cyclone to hit Madagascar. This country is highly susceptible to hurricanes so when
recovering from the last cyclone another one could easily hit, in turn making it hard to rebuild
because of the high probability of being hit again. These cyclones do not go unnoticed though,
after Cyclone Ivan the United Nations appealed to have thirty-six million dollars sent to
Madagascar for relief. This country has possessed an abundance of help from other nations but
during a period of ruling.
From the Timeline: turbulent political history, in 2009 foreign aid was completely cut off
from Madagascar due to the seizure of power of Andry Rajuling. Also, during this time the
African Union suspended Madagascar and the European Union froze aid. This was not the first

economical devastation the country has faced. Between the 1960s and 1970s Madagascar
gained independence from France, which in turn made the economy decline tremendously. In the
beginning of this independence the government neglected the diseases that were ravaging
through herds of cattle and instead pressuring citizens to pay their taxes. Due to the lack of
control over the economy and people, in 1982, authorities forced Madagascar to adopt a
structural adjustment program imposed by the international monetary fund. Throughout the
twenty-first century, Madagascar has suffered several hits to their economy followed by corrupt
government officials. In the beginning of 2002, votes, for the countries new president, were
tampered with, which led to protests that ended in France donating two billion dollars in aid.
This aid from France and other donors cut the countries deficit in half. During this political
crisis, Madagascar is suspended from the African Union and completely cut off from any aid.
When Madagascar tried to incorporate democracy into their political system, in 2005, the United
States gave them developmental aid because, they were a nation trying to promote democracy
and market reforms. Madagascar has had many political crises since they have gained
independence from France. This country has received millions of billions of dollars but has done
little to nothing to show for it. If Madagascar tries to obtain a stable political system, they will be
better able to control their economy, which will be able to help those in poverty.
When looking at Madagascar we wonder what we can do, what is the underlying issue,
and what advancements need to be done. First, we can start with the political system. If this
country is able to commit to a stable government, the economy is more likely to gain stability.
This is a country that after gaining independence had a GDP per capita that dropped forty percent
while the population doubled. Also, we can find that most of the poor in Madagascar are
members of the farming families in rural areas. Eighty percent of the countrys citizens live in

the rural countryside, were living conditions have declined severely due to transportation, health,
education, and food access. Most of these members are subsistence farmers. They barely produce
enough food to feed their families and it keeps getting worse due to the increase of the countrys
population. Due to the lack of nutrients half of the countrys native children show signs of
chronic malnutrition. If this issue of malnutrition does not get resolved, the eighty-four out of a
thousand kids, dying before age five, will only increase. When we look at the physician to citizen
ratio though we can easily see why the mortality rate is so high. For every thousand people, there
is a sixteenth of a physician. The lack of hygiene, chronic malnutrition, lack of access to drinking
water, and the constant lingering of sexually transmitted diseases, people of this country are at an
extreme high risk for infectious diseases, and it does not help that there are no health
professionals to satisfy the needs of these individuals. We ask ourselves, as Americans, what can
we do to help. Well, in America we have many government and state aid programs in place to
help those in need. We have school lunch programs, special supplemental program for women,
infants and children, and we also have a child labor law. This law forces children to stay in
school to get a substantial education before they enter the workforce. In Madagascar there is no
child labor law. Children are entering the workforce before they are able to receive any education
at all and by the time they are able to earn the education, they encounter many issues. First, the
education that they are able to receive is insufficient to their needs. Then they find that while in
school they are no longer earning money for their family and reside back to the workforce. But
these issues are not going unnoticed, there are many plans in place to better assist these issues.
One of the programs installed by CARE is an environmental preservation act. CARE engages in
the communities to help them earn a living while enhancing the environment and replacing
farming techniques with more sustainable practices. Food security and nutrition is also

something that CARE has identified as an issue and is making moves to enhance. They have
gone in to rural areas, made storage facilities, and allowed farmers to store food during seasons
where crops are insufficient. Cyclones are a natural disaster that cannot be contained, so CARE
has developed national policy to prevent damage from annual disasters. This has allowed
governments, donors, and other groups to react to these disasters. Madagascar has many other
donors that are now allowed to interact with their citizens and government now that the political
crises have been settled. As long as Madagascar keeps the government under control and allows
aid to keep coming in they can transform their country into something great. This country will be
able to attract many more tourists to their country because of there abundance of rare animals
only seen on the Rainbow island itself. Madagascar is on the rise, economically, with their GDP
growth rising four percent in the last five years. This tropical attraction is a unique up and
coming country that could become its own continent one-day, with the help of organizations and
proper funding to support the issues that arise from this newly independent country.

Reference Page
Davis, J., & Ranaivoarivelo, N. (2011, February 1). Madagascar. Retrieved April 1, 2015, from
http://www.care.org/sites/default/files/documents/madagascar-fact-sheet-2011.pdf
Madagascar GDP and Economic Data. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from
https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/country-data/madagascar-gdp-country-report
Madagascar: Timeline- turbulent political history. (2015, January 1). Retrieved April 1, 2015,
from http://www.irinnews.org/report/88457/madagascar-timeline-a-turbulent-political-history

Hunger in America: 2015 United States Hunger and Poverty Facts. (2015, March 1). Retrieved
April 1, 2015, from http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/us_hunger_facts.htm
Rural Poverty in Madagascar. (2014, June 1). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from
http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/country/home/tags/madagascar
Madagascar. (2012, June 1). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from
http://www.ciaworldfactbook.us/africa/madagascar.html