Somalia

=Somalia=

=toc Geography= Somalia is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Kenya to the south, and the small country of Djibouti to the northwest. Also to the east is The Indian Ocean as well as the Gulf of Eden.

Northernmost coordinate 12 North 51 East Southernmost coordinate 1 South 42 East Easternmost coordinate 12 North 51 East Westernmost 1 South 41 East to 3 North 41 East

From Lancaster, PA, it is 773 miles south-east to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

Somalia is 246201 square miles, and surrounding countries are Ethiopia which has 935183 sq miles, Kenya has 224962 sq. miles, and Djibouti which only has 23200.

Somalia is mostly flatlands and has a lot of tall flat plateaus. It is in Sub-Sahara Africa so it is quite warm and is also right next to the ocean so it can get pretty cool at times as well.

The entire east half of Somalia and almost all of the north is coastline and to the west is the rest of Africa, Also to the north about 250 miles past the gulf of eden is the middle east.

The music is one of the most unique in the world because the music there is very little effected by outside influence. They have 2 independence days, June 26th from the UK and July 1st from Italy. Somalia has a very unique breakfast, it is like a pancake made entirely from bread, and is also very thin and is eaten in innumerable ways.they also have Barris iyo digaag suqar,which is a mixture of rice, stewed chicken and vegetables. Looks a lot like lo mein.

=Economy=

Despite what some think, Somalia maintains a somewhat healthy informal economy because they have large amounts of livestock. Agriculture is most important with livestock, usually accounting for 40% of the GDP. Livestock hides, fish, charcoal, and bananas are Somalia's principal exports, while sugar, sorghum, corn, at, and machined goods are the principal imports. It’s strengths are livestock exports counting for a huge majority of its gdp.

Currency is Somali Shilling <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">1 US Dollar is 1,646.22 Somali Shilling <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">1 Somali Shilling (SOS) is 0.0006075 US Dollar (USD) <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif';">1 SOS isn’t even 10% of a penny <span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: middle;">Agriculture is 65% of the land use in Somalia, and industry is 10% and services is 25% (2005) <span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: middle;">the Laborforce is almost all agriculture, 71% of labor force is agriculture and services and industries is a mere 29%

GDP/capita Somalia $600 U.S.$47,400 Ethiopia $1,000 Sudan $2,200

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: middle;">Somalia has a relatively low GDP/capita for its surrounding area, Ethiopia has 1,000 and Sudan has 2,200. But that area of the world is low because the rest of the world is a lot higher than the countries in that area... The U.S. has $47,400. (All in U.S. dollars) Somalia’s GDP/capita is 1.2% of what the U.s.’s GDP

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: middle;">Somalia is considered a least developed country because there is an extremely high crime rate, the literacy rate is 37.5%, and school life expectancy is 3 years! Infant mortality rate is higher than 1/10th, it’s 105.56/1000 infants born. There is an average of 6.35 children for every woman in Somalia.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 0.75pt;">Somalia fit’s in the south of the north south divide. The country has agriculture exports and they import machine goods, leather, clothing. The country has 71% of the workforce are farmers and others in agriculture. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world. It is part of the world bank, and it does get some debt forgiveness. It is not part or the World Trade organization however even though many think they should be.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: middle;">Somalia is not part of any trade organization, how ever Somalia is constantly trading animals and livestock to the middle east.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; vertical-align: middle;">Somalia is a threat on shipping in the area because pirates are always robbing ships, that goes from the gulf of aden in north Somalia through to the Indian ocean, south and west of Somalia, the straight in between Somalia and the middle east.

Population
population of Somalia currently: 9,133,124

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Population of major cities : <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Mogadishu has 1,183,100 people <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Hargeysa has 231,000 people <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">berbera has 213,400 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">kisimayo has 201,600 people

population density: 13 people / sq. mile

age distribution: 0-14 - 44%, 15-59 - 52%, 60+ - 4%

it will take 251.43 years for Somalia's population to double. only 37% of the population can read and write Infant Mortality Rate: 105.56 babies out of 1000. Life expectancy At birth: 50.4 Years Physical quality of life: 20.275

Ethic groups: 85% Somali, 15% Bantu and other, About 30,000 Arabs aswell. 99.9% Muslim Main language is Somali, aswell as Arab, Italian, and some English.

=Human Rights=

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">98.5% of women in Somalia are being a victim of a horrible human rights violation. Female genital mutation is a requirement for all Somali women, and is considered a mortal sin if you do not. About 80% of women are getting type 3 FGM which is the worst one. They cut out the clitoral hood, and the labia majora, as well as narrowing the vaginal opening so only the size of a match stick can get through. Women need to get it unstitched just before childbirth and then restitched for just after childbirth. Which could cause in more problems such as more infections, etc.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Women in Somalia are being affected by multiple FGM complications such as Hemorrhages, Infections, Fear and depression, and Birth Complications. Also about 49% of women in Somalia reported abnormal bleeding from menstruation. FGM in Somalia is the exact reason why the infant mortality rate is higher than 1/10. FGM is declining in most sub-Sahara African nations but in Somalia it is still going strong and it must be stopped.

=<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">Enviorment Issues = = = Somalia has one of the worst enviorments in the world today It has alarming water- contact infections so they cant drink directly from the stream.it has schistosomiasis disease in the water which is a parasite and effects blood infections, chronic liver and kidney failure, a series of cancers. right-sided heart failure and stroke, which could also lead to paralysis. So they can't even drink from running water cause of the parasites.

other then poisoned water they also have the world's most attractive illegal hazordous waste dumping. which basicly means that they are the country that is doing the most illegal dumping of hazordous wastes. which is doing more and more damage over time. And along with that, they allowed Switzerland and italy to dump in somalia as well in order to make some money for the somali government. and somali can't really stop allowing them to dump because they have the weakess government in the world, it is almost if not already an anarachy so they dumping just keeps continuing.

=Why I would not live there=

There is a lot of reasons why i would not live in somalia. first of all, I would not live there because there is extremely high crime rates. Especcially near the east coastline there are pirates that go out and rob ships, but they will also not hesitate to rob anyone on land. And if i would not care about that, there is also national poverty where everyone is starving; every day is a fight for food. the government there does absolutely nothing. it is basically an anarchy. If i were to go there at all it would be to feed a town and help the starving children =Works cited=

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Mohammed, Abdullah. "SOMALIA'S DEGRADING ENVIRONMENT." //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Welcome Banadir.com - Where News Is Always Free //. Sweden Royal Institute of Technology, June 2001. Web. 24 May 2011. []. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Reymond, Laura. "PATH : Female Genital Mutilation – The Facts." //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">PATH: A Catalyst for Global Health //. PATH. Web. 24 May 2011. <http://www.path.org/files/FGM-The-Facts.htm>.

Somalia - Country Brief." <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">World Bank Group . World Bank Group, Aug. 2009. Web. 24 May 2011. <http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/SOMALIAEXTN/0,,menuPK:367675~pagePK:141132~piPK:141107~theSitePK:367665,00.html>.

<span style="background: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 14.25pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: -0.5in; vertical-align: auto;">"CIA - The World Factbook." //<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Welcome to the CIA Web Site — Central Intelligence Agency //. CIA. Web. 02 May 2011. [].