Water Wars: Ethiopia and Kenya
Notable Entry, Interactive Narratives. 2008 Knight-Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism.
Pulitzer Gateway: Water Wars
Visit the interactive Water Wars Web Portal, sponsored by the Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting.
Kibera: Not a Drop to Drink
The long rainy season in Kenya has begun and sudden storms regularly burst over Nairobi. Many welcome the downpours, which signal the end of another dry summer and wash the steamy crowded capital clean each morning.
As featured in Women's eNews, 1h2o.org, and Living on Earth. Produced in association with the Pulitzer Center On Crisis Reporting.
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Country Fact Sheets from the CLP
Because we believe that good journalism must be contextualized, we've decided to share with our readers some of the more interesting and lesser known facts about the countries we've reported on. While these are in no way comprehensive descriptions of these complex places, this is the information that we've found most helpful in placing these countries in a global framework and underscoring the broader implications of the issues we've covered. In developing these Fact Sheets, we've worked to incorporate both the official facts and statistics reported by government sources as well as our own observations through reporting in each country. If you have any suggestions or requests for information you'd like to see included, write to us at info@clpmag.org
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world with a small population and a wealth of natural resources, most notably oil. Its population density is only 9.3 people per square mile - as compared with 70.2 in the United States. But like many other post-Soviet states, it is plagued by corruption, economic disparity and authoritarianism. While poverty levels have dropped in the country in recent years due to an economic boom, the profits from natural resources have not been evenly distributed throughout the population. While urban development increases, rural areas suffer from crumbling infrastructure, and the ethnic Kazakh way of life, for centuries a semi-nomadic existence, is in decline. Kazakhstan is 53% ethnic Kazakh and 30% ethnic Russian; another 15-17% of the population is made up of Germans, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Koreans and Uyghurs.
Size: About four times the size of Texas.
Population: About 15 million, with a miniscule growth rate of 0.33%. The government has encouraged its citizens to reproduce more rapidly.
Languages Spoken: Kazakh and Russian.
Type of Government: While Kazakhstan's government is a republic loosely modeled after the United States, absolute power rests in the hands of its president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, a former Soviet leader who has ruled the country since independence in 1991. Human rights leaders have called its constitution one of the world's worst examples of authoritarianism shrouded in democratic rhetoric, but the international community has been hesitant to push for democratic reforms most likely due to the significance of the country's natural gas and oil deposits. Like Nazarbayev, most of Kazakhstan's powerful political leaders and businessmen were in similar positions under the Soviet regime. Kazakhstan ranks 107 out of 158 on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, along with Belarus, Eritrea, Honduras, Nicaragua, Palestine, Ukraine, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Religion: Kazakhstan's population is only nominally religious. Most Kazakhstanis identify as either Muslim or Russian Orthodox (largely along corresponding ethnic lines) but years of Soviet influence and a historical tradition of secularism mean that few practice either religion seriously. Intermarriage between Russians and Kazakhs is common.
Gender and Health Issues: Kazakhstan has a reputation of gender equality, and only a small discrepancy between male and female literacy rates (99 and 97 percent respectively) and access to education exists. Abortion is fully legal, and 52% of women of childbearing age use a modern method of contraception. Infant mortality is comparatively low, though five times higher than in the United States. HIV/AIDS prevalence is one-third that of the United States, at 0.2% of the adult population. Life expectancy is 66 years.
Environment and Resources: The legacy of Soviet exploitation of Kazakhstan's "Virgin Lands" and continuing noncompliance with international industrial safety regulations pose major health and environmental hazards.
GDP: $124.3 billion
International Aid Received: $74.2 million
Receives US Counterterrorism Assistance: Yes
Death Penalty: In use for ordinary crimes
Top Five Industries: Oil, coal, iron ore, manganese, chromite
Poverty Rate: Kazakhstan has yet to develop an official poverty line, but it is estimated that 19% of Kazakhstanis live in poverty.
McDonald's Restaurants: None
Currency: Tenge - about 120 to the dollar
Posted: 2006
Country Fact Sheet Sources
- General Statistics - CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/
- Abortion Legal Status, Maternal Mortality, Infant Mortality, Contraception: http://www.medicationabortion.com
- Abortion Legal Status: http://www.crlp.org/pub_fac_abortion_laws.htm
- Contraceptive Use: http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/contraceptive2005/WCU2005.htm
- Maternal Mortality: http://www.childinfo.org/areas/maternalmortality/countrydata.php
- McDonald’s Country List: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_McDonald%27s_franchises
- Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19388
- The Economist Intelligence Unit Quality of Life Index: http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf
- Human Development Index: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index
- 2005 Environmental Sustainability Index: www.yale.edu/esi/
- General Statistics - World Atlas: http://www.geographyiq.com
- Counterterrorism Funding Information - State Dept. Country Reports: http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt
- Death Penalty Status: http://web.amnesty.org/pages/deathpenalty-countries-eng
- Human Trafficking information: http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2006/
- BBC Country Profiles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm
- Department For International Development: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/countries/allcountries.asp?view=region
- United Nations Development Programme: http://www.undp.org/
- The World Bank: http://www.worldbank.org/
Note: Population growth projections are often controversial. To calculate them for these fact sheets, we simply used the current population and population growth rate provided by the CIA World Factbook.