I-MAG STS    Corporation
  2007 2012 - no maglev 2012 - maglev
Population 65,751,512 77,678,069 77,753,226
People/arable sq km 871 1029 1014
Babies dying 151,083 178,488 161,700
AIDS - adults 1,443,640 1,899,306 1,881,745
Starving children < 5 3,063,560 3,619,254 2,676,165
Illiterate adults 11,319,452 13,372,668 11,833,652
Unemployed adults 15,748,802 18,605,451 16,489,515
Living in poverty 30,245,696 35,731,912 29,157,460
Drinking unclean water 35,505,816 41,946,157 36,932,782
No Sanitation access 37,478,362 44,276,499 38,798,860
Patients per doctor 21,014 24,825 19,458
Malaria cases 4,931,363 5,825,855 5,053,960
Internet users 180,000 392,847 1,055,625
Cellular phones 4,415,000 4,828,821 9,924,546
Inflation 18.2% 22.3% 13.0%
GDP per capita US$ 700 930 1,010
Trade balance MM$ -211 -408 -331
Government spending -1,300 -2,870 -1539
Reserves 0 -156 -143
Currency rate to US $ 464.690 835.075 795.605
External debt 10,000 11,005 10,734
Note that figures like babies dying are annual - so in 5 years 90,000 or more babies would  live past age 12 months. The cost of ongoing intranational war in the northeast looks high - to us. Perhaps there a hidden treasure at stake.  It is not clear to us that the maglev and supurbs can prevent an agonizing social and economic collapse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  What else can? Short of a name change to the Republican Democracy of the Congo, nothing.
© 2013 Peter F. Zoll. All rights reserved.

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