Background on Botswana

   Botswana is relatively well off compared to some of its neighbors. The average per capita GNP is just over $3,000. This high level of per capita income is due mainly to the country’s productive diamond mines, which provide 80% of Botswana’s foreign exchange. The final 20% is mostly from the export of beef to the European Community.

   Botswana’s total population is 1.6 million spread out across 582,000 square kilometers. The country’s annual population growth rate has dropped from 3.5% in 1990 to 1.6% in 2000, partly as a result of the AIDS pandemic. Over the same period the total fertility rate declined from 4.2 births per woman, on average, in 1991 to 4.1 by 1999. However, there is some doubt as to the veracity of these data as a recent Demographic and Health Survey put the total fertility rate at just 3.4 births per women in 1999; this survey took account of the heavy toll AIDS is having on the population.

   The infant mortality rate is 51 deaths per 1,000 live births, but this could be an under-estimation given the effect of AIDS on the country.

   AIDS is the most severe health crisis in the country’s history. According to UNAIDS, one-third of the reproductive age population in Botswana is infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Testing has shown that one of every three pregnant mothers is HIV-positive. This makes Botswana the most infected country in the world on a percentage basis.


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