Nigeria

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The freshwater withdrawal per capita for indistry, agriculture, and domestic use in the United States is 1,600 cubic meters per year. In Nigeria, it is only 61 cubic meters per year.

Chinwe Okoro is a 26-year-old born and raised in the Okpuje village in sourtheastern Enugu State in Nigeria. He, along with others in his family and area, has been struggling with poverty for most of his life. People in his village often have difficulty getting a quality education, selling their crops, and receiving decent medical care.

Map of Nigeria (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html)

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

Nigeria's federal republic has long been affected by corruption and poor economic management, and it remains one reason why many families are struggling today. President Goodluck Jonathon had recently implemented an economic reform, which was unfortunately cut short due to the world economic crisis.

Okoro was born into an economic environment solely dependent on crops. Many villagers are farmers, since the area was abundant in farmland. However, this farmland is quickly depleting along with its water sources, and thus so is the ability for these farmers to sell their crops and make a sufficient amount of money. According to NationMaster, The United States has a GDP per capita approximately 32 times greater than that of Nigeria. Furthermore, 32.4%!o(MISSING)f Nigeria's labor force are agricultural workers, while only 2%!o(MISSING)f the US's labor force work in agricultural labor. In Nigeria, the GDP Per Capita income is approximately $2,700, while in America, it is $49,800. It is clear that Nigerians must live on a considerably less income than those in the United States do.

PEOPLE

Nigeria is ranked 7th in the country overall in terms of population, and males have a life expectancy of around 49, while females have a life expectancy of 55 years, compared to the US, whose population is ranked third in the world and where males are expected to live for around 76 years, and females are expected to live to about 81. Considering infant mortality, Nigeria is ranked the 15th nation while America is ranked 51st. In Nigeria, there are 0.395 physicians/1,000 population, while in America, there are 2.672 physicians/1,000 population. In other words, Nigeria does not have the same amount of access to doctors as Americans do. Furthermore, Nigeria is second in the world for people living with HIV/AIDS (approximately 3.3 million), while the US is ninth in the world for people living with the same disease (1.2 million). Education wise, the approximate school life of Nigerians is 9 years, while for Americans it is 16.

Population charts of Nigeria and the United States of America, respectively.

Statistics like these show that although the population is large, the life expectancy in Nigeria is much lower than that in the United States. This could be due to the fact that doctors are much harder to find in Nigeria, and that so much of the population is infected with HIV/AIDS. Because a good amount of the population work in agriculture, the country takes longer to advance by means of politics and technology. This is especially seen in the short education expectancy of about 9 years. According to the CIA World Fact Book, approxiately 61.3%!o(MISSING)f Nigeria's population is literate, while 99%!o(MISSING)f the US's population is literate. Because of this large difference, it is clear that Nigeria could be behind because of a lack of education or the opportunity for education. This can be especially true for those fighting to keep their families alive by farming and trying to sell leftover crops.

The corrupt government does not aid the situation, either. It is difficult to develop important facilities like water treatment plants with such low income and scarce resources as it is, and a slow government definitely does not improve growth either.

As you can see, Chinwe Okoro is likely not alone in his struggle for survival in his hometown. Due to low accessibility to medical care, clean water, sufficient schooling, and a reliable income, poverty seems largely widespread in the Okpuje village as well as many other regions in Nigeria.

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