Burkina Faso, a landlocked country in the increasingly unstable Sahel region, continues to experience high poverty rates. Burkina Faso’s population is mostly rural (71%) and population growth is high (3%).
Most residents of Burkina Faso rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. The country is also prone to increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters such as drought, floods and climate-related pest invasions and diseases. Following the 2014 political uprising that saw the country’s president flee from power, USAID supported the country’s first free, fair and open democratic national elections in November 2015 and its municipal elections in May 2016. Burkina Faso is now working to build civil and democratic institutions to ensure a stable democracy.
Despite a push by the government to increase the availability of food, roughly 20 percent of the population of Burkina Faso remains food insecure. Working with other United States Government bodies, USAID supports Burkina Faso’s efforts to confront the country’s greatest development challenges, including enhancing agricultural production, improving mother and child nutrition, reducing the burden of malaria and building vibrant civil and democratic institutions.