Kinder am Lesen

Projects in Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua

0.501

This lands Nicaragua in 95th place out of 189 countries surveyed. Switzerland, by contrast, is in second place with an IHDI of 0.882.

*The Inequality-adjusted Human Index (IHDI) measures inequality in various countries, considering inequality in education, health, and income; scores range from 0 (lowest) to 1 (highest).

USD 5,680

Switzerland: USD 65,610

24.9%

In our project area in the drylands of Nicaragua, 60% of the smallholder farmers live in poverty.

*The national poverty rate is the percentage of the population that live below the national poverty threshold. The official estimates are based on population-weighted estimates of the subsets from household surveys.

Challenges in Nicaragua

  • The percentage of schoolchildren who started primary school but then dropped out before graduating is 51.6%.
     
  • The Nicaraguan drylands are among the regions most threatened by climate change worldwide. Droughts and other natural catastrophes threaten the food security of the small farmers who live there.
     
  • The political crisis has massively affected the economy, leading to negative growth since mid-2018; at the beginning of 2019, the figure was -7.7%.
     
  • In Nicaragua, 51.6% of students who have attended primary school drop out before reaching the last grade of primary school.
     
  • The Nicaraguan dry belt is one of the regions most affected by climate change in the world. Droughts and other natural disasters threaten the livelihoods of the small farmers living there.
     
  • Nicaragua has been mired in a deep socio-political crisis since April 2018. The government responded to peaceful protests by the civilian population with massive police violence and targeted killings. The crisis has already left more than 500 dead, over 2,000 injured, and hundreds imprisoned, with the number of refugees now exceeding 100,000.
     
  • The political crisis has had a massive impact on economic growth, which has been negative since mid-2018 and was -7.7% at the beginning of 2019.