Moldova is considered one of the poorest countries in Europe despite substantial progress. [1] According to the UN Development Program's 2016 report, 9.6% of the population was living in absolute national poverty (as defined by the National Bureau of Statistics [NBS]) [2] and the World Bank reports that 0.2% and 0.1% of the population live at $1.90 a day in 2016 and 2017 respectively. [3] Furthermore, the percentage of the population that was living below the national poverty line was 30.2 in 2006 and 9.6 in 2015. [4] In 2012, Moldova received 0.004 as its Multidimensional poverty index (MPI). [5]
A major concern of the state is that a lot of specialized labour is migrating out of the country. Due to the low number of opportunities for post-secondary graduates in sectors aside from farming, many are looking for employment outside the country. By some estimates, a quarter of the population live and work abroad, 11th highest in the world. [6] Although many send remittances back home, several studies show that international remittances can contribute little to economic development and only alleviate extreme poverty and help raise the standard of living for remittance-receiving household in the short and medium run. [7] [8]
There are additional factors that contribute to poverty in Moldova:
The majority of the population that is employed in the agricultural sector are contract employees. In 2014, the average monthly salary for these employees is MDL 2773.9 which is 33.5% lower than the national average. Rural workers from agricultural sectors are more impacted by poverty risk than workers from non-agricultural sectors. About a quarter (25.5%) of households with incomes from agricultural work and 6.8% of households with non-agricultural incomes are subject to poverty risks. Therefore, increases in employment in agriculture in rural areas alone cannot solve the issue of poverty in villages. [2]
Location | 2006 | 2009 | 2015 |
---|---|---|---|
Rural | 34.1 | 36.3 | 14.5 |
Urban | 24.8 | 12.6 | 3.1 |
Total | 30.2 | 26.3 | 9.6 |
Roma continued to be one of the most vulnerable minority groups in the country and faced a higher risk of marginalization, under-representation in political decision making, illiteracy, and social prejudice. Roma had lower levels of education, more limited access to health care, and higher rates of unemployment than the general population. Romani women were particularly vulnerable to social exclusion and discrimination. [10]
Authorities lacked an effective mechanism to address vulnerable families whose children did not attend school. Approximately 60 percent of Romani families lived in rural areas. Some Romani communities lacked running water, sanitation facilities, and heating. Other problems facing Roma include lack of emergency health-care services in secluded settlements, unfair or arbitrary treatment by health practitioners, lower rates of health insurance coverage, and discrimination in the job market. According to the most recent statistics, only 21 percent of Roma were actively employed. Throughout the year, Roma groups reported being denied service at restaurants in Soroca and Riscani. [10]
Latin-script schools in Transnistria continued to be a matter of dispute between the Moldovan authorities and the de facto Transnistrian authorities, although a formal agreement was signed to reduce the rent paid by Moldovan authorities operating Latin-script schools in Transnistria. [10]
Child poverty is one of the most important problems in Moldova. Children living in rural areas have an extremely high risk of poverty especially if the family has three or more children. Children in poor households have a high risk of educational underachievement and a lacking access to the healthcare services.
The economy of Burkina Faso is based primarily on subsistence farming and livestock raising. Burkina Faso has an average income purchasing-power-parity per capita of $1,900 and nominal per capita of $790 in 2014. More than 80% of the population relies on subsistence agriculture, with only a small fraction directly involved in industry and services. Highly variable rainfall, poor soils, lack of adequate communications and other infrastructure, a low literacy rate, and a stagnant economy are all longstanding problems of this landlocked country. The export economy also remained subject to fluctuations in world prices.
The economy of Guatemala is a considered a developing economy, highly dependent on agriculture, particularly on traditional crops such as coffee, sugar, and bananas. Guatemala's GDP per capita is roughly one-third of Brazil's. The Guatemalan economy is the largest in Central America. It grew 3.3 percent on average from 2015 to 2018. However, Guatemala remains one of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, having highly unequal incomes and chronically malnourished children. The country is beset by political insecurity, and lacks skilled workers and infrastructure. It depends on remittances for nearly one-tenth of the GDP.
The economy of Lesotho is based on agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, mining, and depends heavily on inflows of workers’ remittances and receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Lesotho is geographically surrounded by South Africa and is economically integrated with it as well. The majority of households subsist on farming. The formal sector employment consist of mainly female workers in the apparel sector, while male migrant laborers work primarily either as miners in South Africa for 3 to 9 months or in the employment of the Government of Lesotho (GOL). Half of the country's population work in informal crop cultivation or animal husbandry.
The economy of Malawi is $7.522 billion by gross domestic product as of 2019, and is predominantly agricultural, with about 80% of the population living in rural areas. The landlocked country in south central Africa ranks among the world's least developed countries. In 2017, agriculture accounted for about one-third of GDP and about 80% of export revenue. The economy depends on substantial inflows of economic assistance from the IMF, the World Bank, and individual donor nations. The government faces strong challenges: to spur exports, to improve educational and health facilities, to face up to environmental problems of deforestation and erosion, and to deal with the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Malawi is a least developed country according to United Nations.
In ancient times, Maldives were renowned for cowries, coir rope, dried tuna fish, ambergris (maavaharu) and coco de mer (tavakkaashi). Local and foreign trading ships used to load these products in the Maldives and bring them abroad.
The economy of Moldova is an emerging upper-middle income economy, Moldova is a landlocked Eastern European country, bordered by Ukraine on the East and Romania to the West. It is a former Soviet republic and today a candidate member to the European Union.
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The World Development Report (WDR) is an annual report published since 1978 by the World Bank. Each WDR provides in-depth analysis of a specific aspect of economic development. Past reports have considered such topics as agriculture, youth, equity, public services delivery, the role of the state, transition economies, labour, infrastructure, health, the environment, risk management, and poverty. The reports are the Bank's best-known contribution to thinking about development.
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