Social aspect of Madagascar

I. The Malagasy household

The Malagasy household is made up of 4.9 subjects and monogamous customary weddings are the most common in the country: 41.1% of the cases.

II. health

According to the INSTAT, a Malagasy woman would give birth to 5.2 children if she were to live at the end of her childbearing years. Between the 1991-2003/04 period, for 100,000 live births, 469 women died from maternity-related reasons. Theses women die during pregnancy, labour or the postpartum period.

The infant mortality rate is estimated at 58 per 1.000 live births in 2003-2004. It has sharply decreased since 1997. Madagascar is then ranking among the Sub-Saharan countries with low infant mortality rate.

Malaria holds the highest incidence rate (42.2%) as a source of morbidity in the island; it is followed by diarrhoeic diseases which account for 11.9% of the recorded cases. (Source: INSTAT 2004).

AIDS has become a national concern even though numbers of the people living with this disease are still negligible: 59 Aids sufferers and 226 HIV positives for 218,310 tested subjects in June 2003. To this end, public awareness campains have been carried out everywhere in the country. In 2003, the Ministry of Health and Family Planning shows a 1.1% the HIV prevalence rate and the Government plans to reduce it in the years to come. On February, 27th 2006, the President himself and his Wife took part in a blood test to set a good example.

III. Education

35.2% of the population aged 6 and above were considered illiterate in 2004 hence a sharp decrease since 2002. in this respect, the gross primary school enrollment trade stabilized approximately to 122% between 2002 and 2004 whereas the net primary school enrollment trade increased and reached 85.6% in 2004 (Source: INSTAT 2004).

IV. Unemployment

In Madagascar, the unemployment rate is 2.7% in 2004. It is particularly high in Antananarivo; thus, unemployment is mainly an urban phenomenon and is found in the capital.

V. The National headcount index

In 2004, 72,1% of the population live below the poverty line deemed appropriate for the country. Poverty is mainly a rural phenomenon since in any provinces, the highest rate is always found in rural areas. Antsiranana and Antananarivo record the lowest rates due to the high concentration of economic activities in these provinces: vanilla growing for Antsiranana and free-zone enterprises for Antananarivo.