Introduction to Socio-Economic Conditions in Chad

Economic:  According to the UN’s Human Development Index, Chad is currently ranked 175 out of 182 countries.   Chad has historically been a poor nation, but the arrival of close to 300,000 refugees in the East (from Sudan) and the South (from the Central African Republic) has greatly exacerbated the situation.   On top of this, central Chad is currently facing severe food insecurity and famine.

Health: According to World Vision, “there are few health-care centers and even fewer health professionals in Chad. There is only one doctor for every 27,680 persons. Due to the country’s poor pediatric health-care system and the growing rate of malnutrition, one child in five does not live to see his or her fifth birthday. These factors have combined to lower the typical Chadian’s lifespan to 47 years.”  Levels of acute malnutrition are often chronically higher than emergency thresholds in the central, pastoral regions of Chad.   

Chart 1
Education: Chronic poverty and lack of infrastructure has resulted in limited access to education for most Chadians. Sixty-four percent of the population has had no education or only partial primary education. Until 1942, students who desired a secular secondary education had to go to schools in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, severely limiting the number of secondary-school students in Chad. State secondary schools were opened in Chad in 1942, but recognized certificate programs did not begin until the mid-1950s (See Chart 1 below for education levels attained).  

Chart 2

Women appear to be more disadvantaged than men in terms of educational access (Chart 2).

Chart 3






Education also seems to be less accessible to respondents in east and central Chad. In general, most socio-economic differences in Chad are correlated with the regional differences. 

Socio-Economic Differences and Communication in Chad

Economic, education and health indicators all play a role in determining media and communication access and use rates for Chadians. For the purpose of this report, we cross-referenced income levels (low, middle and high) and education levels attained (none/partial primary, primary, secondary, post-secondary) with media access and use as indicators to measure the impact of socio-economic differences on communication access and use.

Chart 4 shows that household access to television is highly correlated to respondents’ income level- access  was six times higher among high income respondents compared to low-incomers. Radio is more equally available, while mobile phone access more variable.  

Chart 4



With weekly media consumption as well, income and education show correlation (chart 5 and 6). In particular, newspaper readership is highly correlated with education levels. In general, private newspapers critical of the government do circulate freely in the capital, N'Djamena, but have little impact among the largely rural and illiterate population.

Chart 5



Chart 6



Radio use increases with education levels. There are also some differences observed with listenership for the state run RNT- listenership decreases as education levels increase. Conversely, listenership for international broadcasters RFI and BBC increases with an increase in education levels (table 1)

Table 1

Picture Courtesy: Blogtrotters on Fllickr

[1] Human Development Report 2009, Chad  http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_TCD.html

[2] Chad- Complex Emergency USAID. Accessed from
 http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/chad/template/fs_sr/fy2010/chad_ce_sr02_03-26-2010.pdf

[3] Famine Early Warning System Network Announcement. Access here  http://www.fews.net/docs/Publications/Chad_Alert_2010_01_en_final.pdf

[4] World Vision Chad Country Profile  http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/learn/world-vision-chad

[5] Famine Early Warning System Network Announcement. Access here http://www.fews.net/docs/Publications/Chad_Alert_2010_01_en_final.pdf

[6] Library of Congress Country Studies, Chad Education  http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+td0057)