The Togolese Republic

The World Resource Institute’s 2002-2004 “Decisions for Earth” lists Togo as a partially free nation with relatively scarce civil liberties (5 out of 7, 7 being least free) and 2.5% of their gross domestic product going towards military spending. Social stratification of wealth information is not available. The Togolese Republic scored a 46.66 out of 100, ranking them 117th on the 2015 social progress index. This illustrates that there is still substantial room for improvement in basic human needs, opportunity, and the foundations of wellbeing. The country received its lowest of the 3 categorical scores in opportunity (35.46/100), which includes areas like personal rights (32.16/100), personal freedom and choice (49.08/100), and tolerance
and inclusion (47.24/100). Past military rule was certainly not ideal, but with pressure from their citizens and other African nations, Togo has taken its first steps towards transitioning to a democratic nation with relatively free and fair multiparty elections. This allows the citizens to now vote for a president and party that could better represent and improve their conditions for social progress in the nation. France’s prior influence and control of the country has had some long lasting effects on the region.
For instance, the official language of commerce remains French rather than a native African language such as Ewe, Mina, Kabye, or Dagomba. Conversely, more than half of all religious people in Togo still follow indigenous beliefs (51%), while Christianity (29%), and Muslim (20%) make up the other 49%. Additionally, only around 1% of the total population is considered European or Syrian-Lebanese with about 99% of the Togolese Republic consisting of native Africans. The nation continues to recognizes 37 different tribes with Ewe, Mina, and Kabre being the most prominent. This seems to adequately reflect the religious and ethnic composition of
Togo. Land use in 1992-1994 was recorded with 45% of land area making up cropland, 17% comprised of forest and woodland, and 4% used as pastures by The World Resources Institute. Most recently, The CIA World Fact book’s 2016 data for Togo stated that 67.4% of land usage is apportioned to agricultural activities with 45.2% of that being arable land, 18.4% consisting of permanent pastures, 3.8% comprised of permanent crops and 4.9% being covered in forest and woodlands. The transition in land usage percentages indicates that deforestation from slash-and-burn agriculture and the use of wood for fuel might be depleting forested areas. The 1990 acres per capita was estimated to be 1.3 acres, while the 2025 low-moderate population projection shows acreage per person shrinking to 0.51 acres.
Food production per capita in 1983 was scored at 93.0 indicating there was an increase in food production from 1983 to 1999-2001.
Yet, Togo’s production of food per capita in 2003 recorded a score of 96.2 implying declines in food production per capita between 1999-2001 and 2003 as listed by the World Resources Institute Earth Trends website. From 1988-1990, roughly 99% of the average daily caloric supply was available to the population of Togo. However, 20% of all births from 1990-1994 were considered to be low birth weights and the country witnessed 24% of their children less than five years old being underweight, with 5% suffering from acute malnutrition, and 30% suffering from chronic malnutrition that leads to stunted growth from 1990-1996. The total percentage of the population that was malnourished was listed at 33% by the United Nations Human Development Report and the country’s adult prevalence obesity rate as of 2014 was documented at 6.4% by The CIA World Fact Book. As of 2010, the percentage of children under the age of five that were considered to be underweight has dropped down to
16.5%.