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The Bottom Billion
''The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It'' is a 2007 book by Paul Collier, Professor of Economics at Oxford University, exploring the reasons why impoverished countries fail to progress despite international aid and support. In the book Collier argues that there are many countries whose residents have experienced little, if any, income growth over the 1980s and 1990s. On his reckoning, there are just under 60 such economies, home to almost 1 billion people. Synopsis Development traps The book suggests that, whereas the majority of the 5 billion people in the "developing world" are getting richer at an unprecedented rate, a group of countries (mostly in Africa and Central Asia but with a smattering elsewhere) are stuck and that development assistance should be focused heavily on them. These countries typically suffer from one or more development traps. The Conflict Trap: Civil wars (with an estimated average cost of $64bn each ...
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Paul Collier
Sir Paul Collier, (born 23 April 1949) is a British development economist who serves as the Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and co-director of the International Growth Centre. He is also a Professeur invité at Sciences Po and a Professorial Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford. He has served as a senior advisor to the Blair Commission for Africa and was the director of the Development Research Group at the World Bank between 1998 and 2003. He has written for the ''New York Times'', the ''Financial Times'', the ''Wall Street Journal'', and the ''Washington Post''. In 2010 and 2011, he was named by ''Foreign Policy'' magazine on its list of top global thinkers. From 2017-2018, Collier was the academic co-director of the LSE-Oxford Commission on State Fragility, Growth, and Development, and was a founding member of the International Growth Centre's Council on State Fragility. Early life and educ ...
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Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,878 sq mi). In 2024, the country had an estimated population of approximately 23,286,000. Previously called the Republic of Upper Volta (1958–1984), it was Geographical renaming, renamed Burkina Faso by then-List of heads of state of Burkina Faso, president Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as Burkinabes, and its Capital city, capital and largest city is Ouagadougou. The largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso is the Mossi people, who settled the area in the 11th and 13th centuries. They established powerful Mossi Kingdoms, kingdoms such as Ouagadougou, Tenkodogo, and Yatenga. In 1896, it was Colonization, colonized by the French colonial empire, French as part of French West Africa; in 1958, Upper Volta became a self-governing colony wi ...
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Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia covers a land area of . , it has around 128 million inhabitants, making it the List of countries and dependencies by population, thirteenth-most populous country in the world, the List of African countries by population, second-most populous in Africa after Nigeria, and the most populous landlocked country on Earth. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African Plate, African and Somali Plate, Somali tectonic plates. Early modern human, Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out for the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithi ...
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Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. The nation has a total area of approximately , and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands. Hominid remains found in Eritrea have been dated to 1 million years old and anthropological research indicates that the area may contain significant records related to the evolution of humans. The Kingdom of Aksum, covering much of modern-day Eritrea and Tigray Region, northern Ethiopia, was established during the first or second century AD.Henze, Paul B. (2005) ''Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia'', . It adopted Eritrean Orthodox Church, Christianity around the middle of the fourth century. Beginning in ...
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Equatorial Guinea
Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equator and in the Guinea (region), African region of Guinea. , the country had a population of 1,795,834, over 85% of whom are members of the Fang people, the country's dominant ethnic group. The Bubi people, indigenous to Bioko, are the second largest group at approximately 6.5% of the population. Equatorial Guinea consists of two parts. The mainland region, Río Muni, is bordered by Cameroon to the north and Gabon to the south and east. It has the majority of the population and is the location of Bata, Equatorial Guinea, Bata, Equatorial Guinea's largest city, and Ciudad de la Paz, the country's planned future capital. Río Muni's small offshore islands include Corisco, Elobey Grande, and Elobey Chico. The Islands of Equatorial Guinea, ins ...
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Djibouti
Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area of . In antiquity, the territory, together with Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somaliland, was part of the Land of Punt. Nearby Zeila, now in Somaliland, was the seat of the medieval Adal Sultanate, Adal and Ifat Sultanate, Ifat Sultanates. In the late 19th century, the colony of French Somaliland was established after the ruling Dir (clan), Dir, Somali people, Somali, and Afar people, Afar sultans signed treaties with the French, and its Imperial Ethiopian Railway, railroad to Dire Dawa (and later Addis Ababa) allowed it to quickly supersede Zeila as the port for southern Ethiopia and the Ogaden. It was renamed the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas in 1967. A decade later, the Djiboutian people 1977 Afars and Issas independence referendu ...
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Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of cities in Ivory Coast, city and economic centre is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the Guinea–Ivory Coast border, northwest, Liberia to the Ivory Coast–Liberia border, west, Mali to the Ivory Coast–Mali border, northwest, Burkina Faso to the Burkina Faso–Ivory Coast border, northeast, Ghana to the Ghana–Ivory Coast border, east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. With 31.5 million inhabitants in 2024, Ivory Coast is the List of African countries by population, third-most populous country in West Africa. Its official language is French language, French, and indigenous languages are also widely used, including Bété languages, Bété, Baoulé language, Baoulé, Dyula language, Dyula, Dan language, Da ...
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Republic Of The Congo
The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central Africa to the west of the Congo River. It is bordered to the west by Gabon, to the northwest by Cameroon, to the northeast by the Central African Republic, to the southeast by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda Province, Cabinda, and to the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean. The region was dominated by Bantu peoples, Bantu-speaking tribes at least 3,000 years ago, who built trade links leading into the Congo River basin. From the 13th century, the present-day territory was dominated by a confederation led by Vungu which included Kakongo and Ngoyo. Kingdom of Loango, Loango emerged in the 16th century. In the late 19th century France colonised the region and incorporated it into French Equato ...
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Democratic Republic Of The Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is the List of African countries by area, second-largest country in Africa and the List of countries and dependencies by area, 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 112 million, the DR Congo is the most populous nominally List of countries and territories where French is an official language, Francophone country in the world. Belgian French, French is the official and most widely spoken language, though there are Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 200 indigenous languages. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the economic center. The country is bordered by the Republic of the Congo, the Cabinda Province, Cabinda exclave of Angola, and the South Atlantic Ocean to the west; the Cen ...
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Comoros
The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni, Comoros, Moroni. The religion of the majority of the population, and the official state religion, is Sunni Islam. Comoros proclaimed its List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence from France on 6 July 1975. The Comoros is the only country of the Arab League which is entirely in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a member state of the African Union, the ''Organisation internationale de la Francophonie'', the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, and the Indian Ocean Commission. The country has three official languages: Shikomori, French language, French and Arabic. At , the Comoros is the third-smallest African country by area after São Tomé and Príncipe and Seychelles. In 2019, its population was estimated to be 850,886. ...
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Chad
Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central African Republic to Central African Republic–Chad border, the south, Cameroon to Cameroon–Chad border, the southwest, Nigeria to Chad–Nigeria border, the southwest (at Lake Chad), and Niger to Chad–Niger border, the west. Chad has a population of 19 million, of which 1.6 million live in the Capital city, capital and largest city of N'Djamena. With a total area of around , Chad is the fifth-largest country in Africa and the List of countries and dependencies by area, twentieth largest nation by area. Chad has several regions: the Sahara desert in the north, an arid zone in the centre known as the Sahel, and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the second-largest wetl ...
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Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central African Republic–South Sudan border, the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Central African Republic–Democratic Republic of the Congo border, the south, the Republic of the Congo to Central African Republic–Republic of the Congo border, the southwest, and Cameroon to Cameroon–Central African Republic border, the west. Bangui is the country's capital and largest city, bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about . As of 2024, it has a population of 5,357,744, consisting of about 80 ethnic groups, and is in the scene of a Central African Republic Civil War, civil war, which has been ongoing since 2012. Having been a Ubangi-Shari, French colony under the name Ubangi ...
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