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//Hannah Bartkowski, Pd 2// __** COTE D'LVOIRE (IVORY COAST) **__


 * __NAME__: //President Alassane Ouattara// **

__** GEOGRAPHY OF COTE D’LVOIRE:  **__ Cote D’Lvoire is roughly the size of New Mexico. It is on the coast in the western section of Africa, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. The country is fairly flat except for some mountainous areas in the northwest regions. The climate is tropical and varies from warm to hot. The outside regions of Cote D’Lvoire are more populous than the internal regions. The external are the more tropical, coastal regions while the internal areas are forested and barely populated.

__** ECONOMY OF COTE D’LVOIRE:  **__ Cote D’Lvoire’s economy has been getting much better since Alassane Ouattara became President, which isn’t surprising considering before becoming President (or Prime Minister, his previous position), he was an economist by profession. Cote D’Lvoire has remained connected with the French since they gained independence in 1960. It is the number one exporting country for cocoa in the world, and also has exports of coffee, oil, rubber, wood, diamonds, gold, etc. It is because of international trade of these goods that Cote D’Lvoire has great potential for a prosperous economy. However, political conflict has caused the economy to suffer, although President Ouattara is working to improve the economic quality. If things continue in this direction, the economy has the opportunity to become highly successful.

__** POPULATION OF COTE D’LVOIRE:  **__ Cote D’Lvoire has a population of 17,298,040 people. The median age of the citizens of Cote D’Lvoire is about 19 years old. This is partially because the number of births has increased in recent years and partially because the health of the citizens makes it so that only 2.7% of citizens live to or beyond the age of 65. The infant mortality rate is also very high; only 90% of babies are alive when they’re born. 7% of the population is also infected with AIDS, which is also a large cause of the population not living very long.

__** SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF COTE D’LVOIRE:  **__ The social structure in Cote D’Lvoire has changed greatly over the years. Years ago, women had nearly no rights. The society was ruled by wealthy, well-educated men. But when we the country gained independence from France, things started changing. By the 1980s, women had begun to gain rights. Now the rights to education (among other things, although education was the largest difference separating the two) are more equal. The society is essentially classless although in the 1980s there were many distinctions between the rich and the poor.

__** ALASSANE OUATTARA:  **__ Ouattara was the Prime Minister of Cote D’Lvoire before becoming the President. He was also the president of the Rally of the Republicans, an Ivorian political party. Alassane Ouattara went to college at Drexel University in Philidelphia and later went to the University of Pennsylvania for his PhD in economics. He only become the president recently but has already made a significant impact on the country in a positive way. He is working to improve the entire society, focusing specifically on the economy.

__** COTE D’LVOIRE’S ALLIES:  **__ France is Cote D’Lvoire’s main ally, but other supporters include Australia, Syria, Sudan, Lebanon, and China.

__** MO IBRAHIM: **__ **Safety and Rule of Law**: 48th **Participation and Human Rights:** 45th **Sustainable Economic Opportunity:** 40th **Human Development:** 41st // (Although these scores are very low, they are all headed upwards. Since Ouattara has become president they are improving even more.) //

__WORKS CITED:__

"Alassane Ouattara." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia [|Foundation], 25 Sept. 2012. Web. 04 Oct. 2012. .  "Geography and Map of Cote D'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast)." //Geography and Map of Cote D'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast)//. About.com, n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2012. .  "Ivory Coast - SOCIETY." //Mongabay.com//. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2012. .  "U.S. Relations With Cote D'Ivoire." //U.S. Department of State//. U.S. Department of State, 10 Sept. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. .