Social conditions
Gabon is a relatively rich country after African conditions, but is characterized by unevenly distributed wealth. Visit AbbreviationFinder to see the definitions of GAB and acronym for Gabon. Despite this, around one fifth of the population lives in poverty (under US $ 2 per day). In rural areas, less than half have access to clean water.
In 2009, the health care sector accounted for 8 percent of government spending in Gabon. Access to care is still poor; there are 13 hospital beds (2008) and three doctors (2003) per 10,000 residents. In contrast, there are qualified staff available at about 90 percent of deliveries. About 5 percent of the population aged 15-49 is estimated to be affected by HIV/AIDS (2009). Other common diseases are malaria, measles and tuberculosis.
Although the law prohibits child labor and violence against women, this still exists. However, education is as accessible to women as it is to men. Of the country’s MPs, 15 percent are women. Check to see Gabon population.
Dictionary of History
Gabon A state of equatorial Africa with its capital in Libreville. Sparsely populated and with an extreme linguistic fragmentation, Gabon saw migrations of Bantu groups starting at least from 500 BC until the arrival of the mpongwe (ca. 13th century) and fang (late 18th century), which today are the largest community. The Portuguese frequented the coast from the late 15th century, when the south of the Gabon was controlled by the Loango. Slave export area since the 18th century, since 1839 it saw the presence of the French who in 1849 founded Libreville, a settlement for freed slaves. From 1875 the expeditions of PS de Brazzà consolidated the possession which in 1886 was united with the French Congo and in 1910 with French Equatorial Africa.. Area of large plantation and forestry concessions and forced exploitation of African labor, it saw the emergence of a local nationalist elite. Autonomous state in the Franco-African Community in 1959, Gabon became independent in 1960 under the leadership of the Bloc démocratique gabonais (BDG) of Leon M’ba, president of the Republic from 1961 until his death (1967), thanks to the French intervention which reinstated him in power after a coup in 1964. He was succeeded by Albert Bongo – after 1973 Omar Bongo – who in 1968 proclaimed the Parti démocratique gabonais (PDG) a single party and pursued an authoritarian, pro-French policy, attentive to the interests of international companies engaged in the exploitation of large forest and mineral resources, especially oil, of which Gabon is a large producer. Foreign control of the economy brought about exceptional prosperity by African standards, but also serious social and political contradictions and the questioning of the monolithic control of the PDG of Bongo and his Bateke community. The economic decline, due to the drop in oil prices, weakened the consensus and in 1990 Bongo opened the Gabon to multi-party, then winning all the subsequent electoral rounds, always accused of irregularities, and overcoming various crises triggered by widespread discontent and endemic corruption. Reconfirmed in 2005 and modified to this end the constitution, Bongo remained in power until his death in June 2009. In August, his son Ali Ben Bongo Ondimba, former Minister of Defense, was proclaimed the winner of the presidential elections, albeit with the denunciation of fraud by the opposition.