Liberia: The Poorest Nation

Clean water, three meals, and our cell phones are just a few daily necessities for Americans that we fail to realize are luxuries. We as Americans fail to understand that more than one third of the world goes without these things nearly every day.

With over 80% of the country’s population living below the poverty level, Liberia is one of the poorest nations in the world. NationsEncyclopedia.com writes that the vast majority of Liberians make around a couple thousand dollars a day. The country is filled with natural resources, so what exactly contributes to citizens surviving on just $2 a day?

Liberia was founded by ex-slaves from America in the early nineteenth century. Divided into fifteen counties, their government was first modeled after America’s.

The nation suffered a fourteen-year civil war caused by a power conflict and fight for democracy. Although the country is in need of the rebuilding of infrastructure and businesses, the employment rate of Liberia lies just at 15%.

Prior to the start of the war in 1989, the skilled and wealthiest peoples fled. The nation then suffered extreme poverty, but it has never been as terrible as it is now. The destruction of the republic’s land led to a downfall of agriculture production, Liberia’s main source of income, by 75%.

BorgenProject.org says, “In most Liberian counties, people own large chunks of land that are underutilized or sometimes not even used at all. This is partly because they are either not educated on what to do with the land or because some people are just stuck in their rudimentary ways of doing things.” The country has many valuable resources, but without proper cultivation methods on growing crops, they will continue to suffer.

Often times, those who leave the country in hopes of a better life in Europe are often kidnapped, smuggled and sold into a modern-day slave trade. Many reports state hundreds of people are being auctioned daily for as little as $400 a day.

As long as many still seek refuge by fleeing the country, it will continue to struggle to gain the push it needs to get back on its feet. Until then, Americans need to do what they can to assist the struggling nation and be grateful to live where these problems are not a reality for us.