In Obama146;s shadow

Barack Obama8217;s election as US President was a powerful moment for blacks throughout the world.

Barack Obama8217;s election as US President was a powerful moment for blacks throughout the world. But away from the symbolism, the development indicators for blacks in the US and other African nations don8217;t present a happy picture Blacks in the US

Population: 40.2 million or 13.4 per cent. Mississippi has the highest percentage of black population8212;37 per cent. 31 per cent of the black population is younger than 18 while eight per cent is 65 or older.

EDUCATION: Among blacks who are 25 or older, 81 per cent had at least a high school diploma while 18 per cent had a bachelor8217;s degree or higher.

Economic status: In 2006, poverty for single-race blacks had fallen: it 24.3 per cent, down from 31.1 per cent in 1986.

Unemployment: In November 2008, in the middle of an economic meltdown, at 11.2 per cent, more blacks were unemployed than whites 6.1 per cent and Hispanics 8.6 per cent. US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Crime: A report released on December 29 said the murder rate among black teenagers has climbed since 2000. In 2000, 539 white and 851 black juveniles committed murder. In 2007, while white teenage crime was 547, for blacks it was 1,142, up 34 per cent, according to James Alan Fox, a criminal justice professor at Northeastern University, and Marc L. Swatt.

OUT OF AFRICA

Big 038; Small: Nigeria has the largest population 145 million, Seychelles has the smallest 0.1 million.

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MALNOURISHMENT: 40 per cent children under the age of five are underweight in Niger; in Gabon, the figure is 8.8 per cent.

Women: In Mozambique in 2003, 58 per cent of women in the 15-24 range had already given birth once, 18 per cent of men of this age were fathers. Only six per cent of births are attended by skilled personnel in Ethiopia. In Sierra Leone, nearly three out of ten children die before the age of five. Also, every 2,000 women die there for every 1,00,000 live births. Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy8212;40.8 years. In Kenya where Obama has his roots, life expectancy is only 53 years. Here, infant mortality has gone up from 64 in 1990 to 79 in 2006.

Economic status: South Africa has the largest GDP 242 billion. Equatorial Guinea has the highest GDP per capita 7,470, while Democratic Republic of Congo has the lowest 91.

Employment: Of the 200 million Africans in the 15-24 age category, 60 per cent are unemployed. The rate is 83 per cent in Uganda, 68 per cent in Zimbabwe, and 56 per cent in Burkina Faso. 72 per cent of African youth live on less than 2 a day, 70 per cent of those in the 15-24 category, live in the rural areas. They start to work early, a quarter of children aged 5-14 are working.

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Literacy: Between 2000 and 2006, Mali and Burkina Faso had the lowest adult literacy rate at 24 per cent. For the same period, only 13 per cent women in Chad and 15 per cent in Niger were literate. Kenya has a high literacy rate of 74 per cent.

Connectivity: In Liberia, nearly no one has Internet access 0.03 per 100. South Africa has 84 mobile phones per 100 people; Ethiopia has 1 per 100. On an average, only 4.7 per cent of arable land is irrigated.

Price of conflict: The civilian war in Sudan8217;s Darfur has affected more than 4.7 million people. According to the UN, clashes have displaced more than 3,15,000 people in Darfur since January 2008.

Zimbabwe in distress: The country8217;s official inflation rate rose to 231 million per cent in July and could be above one billion percent now. The country is now 158 out of 181 economies rated in the World Bank doing business category. Agricultural failure has resulted in more than two-thirds of the country8217;s 12 million population requiring food aid. Source: Zimbabwe Independent, December 18, 2008.