The Central African Republic (CAR) has gone through more than 20 years of relative and absolute under-development. Today, Central Africans are worse off than they were 20 years ago.

The chart below shows Human Development Indicator (HDI) trends for CAR and its neighbours. The HDI value for CAR was 0.355 in 2006, well below the value for 1985, and essentially the same as in the early 1970s, while countries like Sudan or Chad are substantially better off today.

The Human Development Indicator combines measures of life expectancy, school enrolment, literacy and income to allow a broader view of a country’s development than does income alone. Click here for more info on the HDI and the Human Development Reports.