3. It was claimed in 2003 (no updates since) about 40,000 cases of malaria. This is likely off by a factor of 5 or more. Malaria is debilitating but not usually lethal. Unless you are pregnant, very young, old or in poor health.
4. No one has ever counted AIDS cases - most estimates suggest Guinea-Bissau likely has 75,000 adults who are HIV positive. Of all current diseases, AIDS is unique in that it can (and has) singlehandedly destroy a country's economy.
5. Between AIDS, malaria, not enough doctors, water quality problems and poverty, Guinea-Bissau has an infant mortality rate well above 11% - one of
the highest in the world.
6. Guinea-Bissau has notable linguistic diversity:
Speakers Language
376,000 Balanta
251,000 Pulaar
210,000 Upper Guinea Crioulo
171,000 Mandjak
156,000 Mandinka
131,000 Papel
plus 15 other languages - not all of which have written components;
very few use Portuguese as a first language even though it is the official language.
The number of people literate in all four modes of Portuguese is not known.
7. 42% literacy (estimated; no use of standardized tests) - 58% male; 27% female
8. In terms of modern communications there are less than 20,000 Internet users, less than 5,000 cellular phones and an estimated 2000 personal computers. US Diplomatic representation is handled by the US Embassy for Senegal in Dakar.
9. Guinea-Bissau shares the XOF currency; has not reported a government budget for years; has no estimates of employment and poverty; has no acknowledged no foreign reserves; but does have about 1 billion in external debt.
With $US 54 million in annual exports (mostly to India, US, Nigeria) and $104 million in imports (mostly from Senegal, Portugal and China) and a great deal of smuggling across the borders to and from Senegal and Guinea, we regret to report that our HIROLA software asserts there is currently zero prospect of Guinea-Bissau paying its debts or becoming an economically feasible country.
In statistics when data is outright missing one has three choices: drop the country from the analysis;
drop the measure for all countries OR extrapolate or otherwise estimate the data.