Botswana

Demographics

Botswana has the 54th lowest Human Development Index rating in the world

• Population: 2.1 million (UK: 61 million)
• Birth rate: 23 births/1,000 population (UK: 11 births/1,000)
• Life expectancy at birth: 58 years (UK: 79 years)
• Population under 15 years: 35% (UK: 18%)
• High infant mortality: more than 1 in 23 die at birth (UK: 1 in 197 die at birth)
• Population below the poverty line: 30%
• HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate: 37% of population (UK: 0.2%)
• Literacy rate: 81% (UK: 99%)

Infrastructure

A poor road infrastructure makes overland travelling both challenging and time-consuming.

• Area of the country: 231,804 sq miles (UK: 94,525 sq miles)
• 15,196 miles of roads, but only 5,045 miles of paved roads (UK: 241, 104 miles - all paved)
• 85 landing strips but only 11 are paved.

Economy

Botswana has maintained a high economic growth rates since independence in 1966, fuelled by diamond mining, tourism and finance. However, poverty, high unemployment and AIDS remain serious problems.

• Main exports include diamonds, copper, nickel, soda ash, meat, textiles

Environment

Botswana is landlocked, mostly flat with desert in the south-west. Its population is concentrated in the eastern part of the country. There are environmental issues:

• overgrazing
• desertification
• limited fresh water resources

Climate

A semiarid country (desert in the south-west) with warm winters and hot summers, creating natural hazards to the population:

• periodic droughts;
• seasonal August winds blow from the west, carrying sand and dust across the country, which can obscure visibility