 Located on the west coast of Africa, Mauritania is dominated by the Sahara desert which constitutes 2/3 of its area. It is 153rd out of 177 on the UN’s Human Development index. Less than half the population is literate. 12% of children die before the age of 5; GDP is about $2000 per capita compared with $43,000 for the US.
Mauritania is often described as a bridge between the Arabic North and the African West of the continent. Its population of around 3 million people comprises the politically dominant Arabic speaking Moors (White and Black), and various African tribes such as the Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof.
The country is an Islamic Republic, and by law all Mauritanians are required to be Muslim. The type of Islam practiced is Sunni Islam, with a strong Sufi element. Folk Islamic practices are very common. Religious observance is almost universal.
Traditionally most Mauritanians were nomadic or semi-nomadic, herding their camels and cows between the oases and feeding grounds of the Western Saharan desert, and the Sahel. However the Saharan droughts of the 1970s and 80s have forced many to abandon this centuries-old way of life, to settle in the shanty towns and ghettos of the capital city Nouakchott, and other towns and cities.
The capital city of Nouakchott has grown rapidly from a small fishing village (before independence from France in 1960) to a city of almost 1 million people today (around 1/3 of the population of the country). Most of this growth has come through economic migration, compounded by high birth rates. Most of the inhabitants of Nouakchott live in shanty towns or ghettos which ring the city, where there is no proper sanitation or water supply systems, and where life can be desperately difficult. Unemployment and divorce rates are very high, and the poor struggle to feed and educate their families.
The south of the country is isolated, neglected and inaccessible by road. Serious problems in the south include: malaria, malnutrition, illiteracy, inadequate health coverage, etc. Most of the south is rural. Southern farmers typically live on subsistence agriculture of millet and cowpeas. Education is in acute need of upgrading; in the Guidimagha region (pop. ~200,000), 22 students (of whom one girl) graduated high school in 2006.
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