Malawi is one of the world’s ten poorest countries in the world. It is densely populated, has limited natural resources, suffers from severe environmental degradation, is troubled by frequent droughts, and is being ravaged by HIV/AIDS. Being primarily farmers who live off the land, their lives have been reduced to extreme poverty and hunger. AIDS has eliminated almost an entire generation and left about one million children orphaned. For many families, little land and little money to buy good seed and fertilizer means they are only able to grow enough to feed their family for 5-6 months of the year, leaving only one meal a day for the other half of the year. During this time they try to find small jobs that will buy food for the day. The result is food and nutrition insecurity for many people.
Canada and Malawi rank on opposite sides of the spectrum of the quality of life. On the Human Development Index, Malawi ranks near the bottom at 164 of 177 countries, whereas Canada ranks 4th in the world. Malawi has a Gross Domestic Product of only $677 per capita, compared to $33,375 per capita in Canada. 20.8% of people in Malawi live on less than $1 a day, 62.9% live on less than $2 a day.
Malawi’s population is 13 million – 1 million of those are infected with HIV/AIDS, which has left another 1 million children orphaned. A person in Malawi can expect to live about 45 years, whereas a Canadian can expect to live about 80 years. Because AIDS is especially rampant among the productive working class, almost an entire generation has been wiped out. Their children are left in the care of older siblings or grandparents. As a result, Malawi’s population is very young – the median age is only 16 years (Canada’s median age is 39 years, almost the life expectancy of a person in Malawi).
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