Papers - Life in Less Developed Countries

Life in Less Developed Countries
By: Stephanie Grover
Economics 100
November 21, 2004

       There are many people in the world who are living in some extremely poor conditions unlike the people of Orange County, California. They turn to jobs that pay less than minimum wage. This money is barely enough for them to survive each day. There are many countries in this world that are considered less developed countries (LDC’s). These countries don’t have the things that we consider normal like computers, indoor plumbing, and even running water. Most of the people who live in these countries, live in little houses, even houses made of mud and grass. Living this way is hard for some people who live in developed countries to imagine. A lot of people who live in developed countries have the luxury of nice cars and nice houses. They would have never dreamed of living like the people in LDC’s. I say that people who live in a developed country spend at least a month living in an LDC such as Afghanistan, Haiti, Sierra Leone, or Ethiopia to see what life is like there. All of these countries are considered less developed countries.

       Set in the south-central area of Asia, is the country of Afghanistan. With an estimated population of 28,513,677 in July 2004, 23% of those people live below the national poverty level. Afghanistan has a very low life expectancy with the total population living for an average of 42.46 years. Men’s average life expectancy is 42.27 yrs and women’s average is 42.66 years.

       There are many different ethnic groups in Afghanistan, but the most common is Muslim. These people are related to the ethnic groups of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Iran. Farming is the most common lifestyle of the people of Afghanistan, but there are also a lot of the population who live the nomadic lifestyle. There is only a small amount of land that can be used as farmland, and most of it is too dry meaning that it has to be irrigated. The water is brought in from springs and rivers through underground pipes and then to surface ditches. The main crop that they produce is wheat, followed by barley, corn, and rice. One of the other very important and widely produced crops is cotton. Many of their exported crops include fruit such as sweet grapes and melons, and nuts. To Afghanistan, their livestock is about as important to them as their crops. They raise a lot of sheep and use their fleece is used to make Persian lamb coats. Another thing that the Afghans produce is opium; in fact they are the world’s largest producer of it. About 80-90% of the heroin used in Europe is produced by opium that comes from Afghanistan.

       As far as education in Afghanistan, there are two separate systems that exist. The old system is religious and they teach religious precepts of the Koran, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The new system is a free education at all levels. That includes primary, secondary, and higher education. Up until 1961, only men were allowed to receive a higher education. Today the normal education includes five years of primary school and five years of secondary school. The problem is that many people live in small towns where there are no schools available so they are unable to receive and education.

       The family is composed of many generations of the family all living under one roof with very close bonds. The family is headed by the oldest man in the family and what he says is the law for the family. Their houses are made of mud-brick or even tents. In the smaller towns there are no schools, stores, or any representative of the government. Their diet consists of mainly unleavened flat bread, which is known as nan. They also eat soups, vegetables, fruit, mast, which is a type of yogurt, and they will sometimes eat meat and rice. They enjoy drinking tea. To the people of Afghanistan, the most important holiday is New Years Day, otherwise known as Nowruz, which is celebrated on the first day of spring.

       Over the last few years the economic condition of Afghanistan has significantly improved due to the $2 billion in international assistance, more production in agriculture, and the four-year drought ended. Even though they have improved in the past few years, they are still very poor and they will still be dependent on international assistance, farming, and foreign trade. The country GDP is $20 billion with a GDP per capita being $700. Agriculture brings in 60% of the country’s GDP with the industry being 20% and the other 20% being services. Products that Afghanistan exports are opium, fruits, nuts, hand woven carpets, wood, cotton, hides, pelts, and precious and semi-precious gems which are exported to countries like the United States, France, Pakistan, and India. The total amount of goods that they export is $98 million. Capital goods, food, textiles, and petroleum products are all imported from Pakistan, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Turkmenistan, Kenya, and the United States. Every year they import around $1.007 billion in goods. As far as the countries debt goes, they are $8 billion in debt that is mostly owed to Russia. They also have $500 million in debt that is owed to Multilateral Development Banks.

       From Asia to Africa, there is another country that is even a country that is less developed than Afghanistan. In Africa there is one of the poorest countries in the world. Surrounded by Kenya, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia is a country where there are over 70 distinct ethnic groups. The size of the country is about twice the size of Texas, but it is much less developed. Ethiopia is an extremely poverty stricken country that has been struggling since its beginning.

       Ethiopia has a population of 67,851,281 with about 50% of those people living in poverty. Along with the high poverty rate is a very low life expectancy with the national average being 40.88 years old. Men’s life expectancy is 40.03 years and for women it is slightly higher at 41.75 years. The life expectancy is very low, but there is also another large problem affecting the country. There are about 1.5 million people living with HIV/AIDS while the average deaths per year from HIV/AIDS is 120,000 people.

       There are over 70 distinct ethnic groups living in Ethiopia with the most dominant group being the Amhara. Even though the Amhara are the most dominant ethnic group, they are a minority by numbers. There are many different languages that are spoke in Ethiopia including Amharic, Tigrinya, Orominga, Guaraginga, Somali, Arabic, and many other local languages. Like in most less developed countries agriculture is the most common for of income. In Ethiopia they grow crops and raise cattle. The main crops that they grow are wheat, pulses, coffee, oilseed, sugarcane, potatoes, and qat. The livestock that they raise are cattle, sheep, and goats. There are many individual farms, but there are also a lot of commercial estates that are run by the government that supply coffee, cotton, sugar, fruit, and vegetables that are used for export. Among all of the crops that are grown and exported, coffee still remains Ethiopia’s most important commodity. They have a very large population of livestock and in 1997 those totals were around 100 million animals.

       The religion is widely accepted in the everyday life and their language even has many references to God. The main church is the Ethiopian Orthodox Union church, which is Christian church. There are also two other religions that are practiced largely which are Muslim and Falashas, which is a type of Judaism.

       In 1952, 96% of the adult population was illiterate due to the fact that there weren’t many schools. Now there are many schools that are open and the public education is free, but still only 36% of the adult population is literate. There are not a lot of schools, so even though there is a high population the schools are only able to enroll about 40% of the children.

       In Ethiopia, the GDP is $46.81 billion for the country, but the GDP per capita is only $100 per year. Agriculture brings in 46% of the GDP, while industry brings in 12.6%, and services bring in 41.4%. The jobs that are available are 80% in agriculture, industry and construction is 8%, and government and services are 12%. Ethiopia’s exports total $537 million per year while exporting coffee, qat, gold, leather products, live animals, and oilseeds to Djibouti, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Italy, and the United States. Imports on the other hand total $1.964 billion from Saudi Arabia, United States, China, Switzerland, and Italy. They import products like food, live animals, petroleum products, petroleum, chemicals, machinery, motor vehicles, cereals, and textiles. The country holds an external debt of $2.9 billion. Ethiopia is a transit spot for heroin coming from Southwest and Southeast Asia and going to Europe and North America. Heroin is not illegal in Ethiopia unlike most countries.

       Living in less developed countries is something that most people in the United States never dreamed of. These people are hard workers and if they were living in the United States, they wouldn’t have a house to live in and very little money to survive with. People living in the US need to open their eyes to the world and see how the people in LDC’s live because when we really think about it, life really isn’t that bad here.