Country Comments

Comoros is a tiny nation comprising three islands off the coast of East Africa.

Comoros is poor, and its citizens consume little and rely on subsistence farming. The country has approximately four times as many residents as its natural resources can support. Less than one-sixth of the land remains covered with forest, and rapid deforestation caused mainly by domestic firewood consumption threatens to reduce the islands’ forested land still more.(1) Monga Bay reports deforestation rates have more than doubled, while the country lost 58 percent of its forest cover between 1990 and 2005.Telling people to stop cutting down trees to save their soils is difficult in a country where almost half the population lives on less than US$1.25 a day. The expanding human population and consequent habitat loss has put a number of wildlife species under threat of extinction.

Gender inequality remains a significant concern in the Comoros. In a 2012 survey, about three in 10 women reported they had been child brides. Fourteen per cent of women had experienced physical violence since reaching age 15. Women also have lower levels of literacy and labour force participation than men, and they face barriers in accessing health care. Nearly one third of married women have an unmet need for family planning, and almost half of married women say that decisions about their own health are primarily made by their husband. (2)

(1) Britannica

(2) UNFP- United Nations Population Fund