Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is an African country

situated in the central part of the continent. It gained

independence from Portugal in 1975 under Communist rule.
Immediately after gaining independence, the country was ravaged
by a power struggle between two liberation groups which
initiated a civil war that lasted more than 26 years. The economy
of the country took a significant hit due to the perpetual
conflict. Angola has one of the most abundant mineral and oil
reserves in the world, and its economy has been among the
fastest-growing in the world but years of internal conflicts and
power struggle results in poor living standard, low mortality
rate, and income imbalance has caused for the country not to
flourish. Here are some of the factors which have caused the
country to be underdeveloped.

Poverty:
Angola is extremely rich in oil and diamond reserves, yet nearly
Two-Thirds of the population live on less than $3.10 a day.
According to the Human Development Report, 59% of the people
fall under the above-mentioned category. The 2018 Human
Development Index ranks Angola 147 out of 186 on the poverty
scale, as poverty floods the entire nation to its core. A
considerable amount of the population does not have access to
clean water and limited access to healthcare. Angola is one the
fastest growing economy in the world with the world’s highest
annual GDP growth at 11%, yet there is no rise in the living
standards of the people. The main reason being the majority of
the country’s wealth belongs to a tiny part of the population
according to Income inequality-Palma ratio the 2.1% of the
population controls the majority of the wealth and resources
which has caused a considerable disproportion in the development
of the country.

Health:
Healthcare is rated among the worst in Angola. The infant
mortality rate is 54.6 per 1000 live births, whereas the average
life expectancy is 61 years as compared to 71.5 of the entire
world population. The country lies in the Yellow Fever endemic
zone. HIV occurrence in adults is 1.9%, Malaria rate (per 1,000
people) is 120.3. There is only one doctor available for every
10,000 people, and the government failed to step up by not
providing the required measures to prevent such influx of
diseases. The county still is dependent on foreign aid, and
medical assistance as the country’s own institutions have failed
to give medical training to the locals. Maternal health is also
rated among the worst due to lack of treatment and education.
The numbers are abysmal, but with the new regime, the government
is taking measures to increase medical institutions across the
country with two physician training programs in the country and
over twenty nursing schools.

Education:
The government has taken serious steps to improve the education
standard and increase the literacy rate ever since the end of
civil war in 2002. Despite the efforts, the majority of the
population have limited or no access to higher education,
generations of children missed school due to the civil war which
left them severely traumatised which included former child
soldiers recruited and kidnapped. The literacy rate is 66%,
which included people over the age of 15 who can read and write.
The education index, according to HDR, is 0.498, which is
extremely low. The rate of primary school dropout is 68%, which
is alarmingly high. A country cannot necessarily prosper if the
majority of the populous are not educated enough to lead the
nation forward which develops the manner and attitude to achieve
the desired goals, education enlightens a society to
differentiate between right and wrong.

Political situation:
Ever since acquiring independence from Portugal, Angola was
plagued with political instability and corruption. José Eduardo
dos Santos came into power in 1979 and ruled the country for 38
years when he retired in 2017. His government was considered one
of the most corrupt regimes in the world where Two-Thirds of the
population lived under extreme poverty where on the other side
his own family and his military-political advisors got
wealthier. Angola ranks 165 out of 180 in Transparency
International’s Corruption Perception Index with a score of
19/100. Political stability is essential for the country to keep
functioning, instability in the political system creates a
domino effect which leads to uncertainty everywhere, without a
proper functioning corruption-free government things like
education, healthcare, and the whole economy get neglected which
results in chaos.

Socio-economic Sustainability:
The socio-economic paradigm constitutes a mean of living
standard, access to basic needs and gross capital formation
taken from the GDP. The standard of living is abysmal in Angola
for the common man, only 41% of the population have access to
clean water, only 16% of the rural population has access to
electricity according to the Human development report. People
are more prone to diseases if they are not provided with proper
sanitation facilities, which is the case here, where only 39.4%
of the population use improved sanitation facilities. The total
debt service is basically the ratio of available cash to debt
service for interest payments, which is an alarming 26.5%. If
the people of a nation are not provided with basic necessities
of life, they resort to violence and other chaotic measures. It
is the government’s job to provide with such facilities with an
excellent economic policy, especially when your country is rich
in mineral resources which could be utilised to the full extent.

Population and Employment Vulnerability:

The impact on the economy and infrastructure is negative if the
country has limited resources and a large population. The
population of Angola is 29.8 million with an annual growth of
3.3% where more than 20 million live under severe poverty and
thus contribute nothing to the economy, exponential growth has
been noted in population by the World Bank data index. Urban
population is 64%, and skilled labour comprises of just 11.2%.
Child labour is a significant concern due to lack of resources
and help from the government, parents are forced to send their
children to work which is at 18%, 28.7% of the population from
age 15 and older are unemployed, most of them being uneducated
resort to labour. The country has a long way to go as it still
tackling with the social and political legacy of a 26-year-old
civil war.

The main cause of Angola’s underdevelopment

Many factors may prove to be critical for a country to be
backward which includes poverty, economic collapse and much more
but in my opinion, the main factor which is connected with every
other cause that plays its role in the country being impoverished
is corruption which spreads like cancer and destroys the very
core of the country. Angola has been ravaged with corruption
since its independence. Although José Eduardo dos Santos played
a significant part in promoting peace and stability in the
country and an end to the nearly three-decade civil war which
killed hundreds of thousands of people. But in his tenure of
almost four decades, the people grew poorer and more miserable,
and his family and close advisors became wealthy, such sorts of
tactics encouraged the Bureaucracy and the Judiciary to resort
to such measures as well. Angola is regarded as one of the most
difficult in the world mentioned in the World Bank survey in
2017 in which it was ranked 175th out of 190 in the World Bank
Ease of Doing Business Index. The whole society is influenced
by corruption because of the inefficient distribution of
resources, which results in a shadow economy that slows down the
overall development.

How to solve the corruption epidemic:

There is no easy way to curb such a problem which has caused a
problem for decades, with time, it becomes chronic. Here are
some of the steps that could be taken to stop this critical
problem:
1. Distribution of resources: Nation’s funds and wealth should
be distributed evenly among the masses to create trust
between the state and people

2. Accountability: President João Lourenço has taken the step

in the right direction ever since taking power by taking a
strong stand against the previous regime and holding them
accountable. It is essential to let people know that
corruption will not be tolerated.

3. Educate the masses: It is necessary for the government

institutions to educate the people by conducting anti-
corruption lectures in schools and colleges and promote an
ad campaign to explain the ills of corruption.

4. Build a sense of trust: If the government is expecting

people to pay their taxes, then they must conduct a safe
transition and implement rules and regulations by building
a model and to make sure the developmental funds remain in
safe hands.

5. Prevent Legal Loopholes: For years the corrupt personnel

of any country can hide their wealth and money through the
means of money laundering and legal loopholes that protect
them, illicit flow of funds should be monitored with the
collaboration of international agencies and banks.
Bibliography
• Human Development Reports. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/AGO

• World Report 2018: Rights Trends in Angola. (2018, January

18). Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/world-
report/2018/country-chapters/angola

• Angola. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://data.worldbank.org/country/angola?view=chart

• Angola Corruption Report. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.business-anti-corruption.com/country-
profiles/angola/