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10 facts you didn't know about Chad


Chad is a landlocked Central African country, bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the South, Cameron and Nigeria to the south-west, and Niger to the west. The capital and largest city in Chad is N'Djamena. Chad obtained independence in 1960, under the leadership of Francois Tombalbaye. The official languages spoken in Chad are French and Arabic. General Idriss Déby Itno has been the President of Chad since December 2, 1990.
As of 2015, the Chadian population is estimated to be 13,670,084. Here are more pertinent facts about Chad. 
1. Chad is named after its most popular lake, Lake Chad. Lake Chad used to be the seventh largest lake in the world and the fourth largest in Africa. However, due to advanced desertification and low rainfall, it has shrunk to less than 10% of its former size and volume. Lake Chad is however the largest lake in the Chad Basin.

2. According to the Borgen Project, Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world and has the lowest life expectancy of all countries. In 2017, the life expectancy for a Chadian was only 50.6 years, while that of the country with the highest life expectancy, Monaco, was almost 40 years longer.

3. Chad is presently home to at least 20,000 Nigerian refugees (who fled the Boko Haram insurgency), 100,000 Central African Republic refugees, and 360,000 Sudanese refugees.

4. Chad is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa" because majority of the country's area is categorized as desert. The Saharan desert region covers approximately the northern third of Chad.

Ounianga lakes, Chad
5. Chad is the fifth largest country in Africa. The first four largest countries are: Algeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Libya, respectively. Chad is also the largest landlocked country in Africa.

Ounianga Serir, Northern Chad, photo by Isa Boutriau
6. According to UNICEF, Chad has the third highest prevalence rate of child marriage in the world. 67% of girls in Chad are married before the age of 18 and 30% are married before the age of 15.
7. Chad has a very low literacy rate. According to UNESCO (2016), Chad has an adult literacy rate of 22.31%. The country's male literacy rate is 31.33%, and female literacy rate, 13.96%.

8. Chad has the sixth highest child mortality rate in the world. One in seven children in Chad die before their fifth birthday. In the same light, Chad ranks second in the 2017 Global Hunger Index.

9. According to the World Food Program (WFP), 87% of Chad's rural population lives below the poverty line (live on less than $1 a day).

10. In Chad, donkey milk is used to cure whooping cough.
 


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