Playing catch-up

Though they still remain one of the poorest areas in Africa, the north-east region is doing its best to steadily improve. The region is home to 28% of the population but only makes up 14% of the GDP and still only one fifth of the adult population is illiterate. Despite these dismal statistics, over the past 10 years the north-east region's GDP has risen 4.2% compared to the national GDP growth rate of 3.6%. Last year alone Pernambuco state grew by an astounding 9.3%. Over this same time period the majority of the increase in income has come from earnings, not aid and the minimum wage has risen over 50% in real terms. This growth is helping the region attract firms such as Kraft, increased development of malls, influenced the expansion of a local supermarket chain, and even attracted migrants to come back home and work. Right now the north-east is becoming one the country's largest building sites. Most recently, building is going on to create a new railway system from ports on the coast to the interior states. This will improve their ability to export natural resources and agricultural products such as soybeans. The only setback may be that this area spends below the national average on education. Infrastructure can only help so much if the population is not educated enough to maintain its recent success.

By Tommy Walker