Country explorer: Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has experienced gradual socioeconomic advancements, manifesting as modest but continuous improvements in GDP per capita and shifts in poverty distribution, alongside a mixed trajectory in unemployment rates and a fluctuating inflation landscape, reflecting a path of economic stabilization and recovery that aligns with patterns observed in several other low-income countries.

Sierra Leone has experienced remarkable improvements in life expectancy and reductions in fertility rates, reflecting broader trends observed across low-income countries, yet it faces unique challenges in net migration patterns.

In the past two decades, Sierra Leone has demonstrated steady, albeit slow, progress in improving access to basic needs, such as clean cooking fuels, electricity, safely managed drinking water, and sanitation facilities, albeit still lagging significantly behind many of its peers and remaining one of the countries with the lowest access rates globally.

Sierra Leone has shown significant advancements in human development, reflected in increased literacy rates, decreased child mortality, and improved learning-adjusted years of schooling, mirroring broader positive trends observed across low-income countries.

Sierra Leone has demonstrated significant efforts toward environmental sustainability, evidenced by its stable forest area amidst declining trends in some peers, alongside incremental progress in renewable energy usage, though it still shares common challenges with low-income countries in managing per capita CO₂ emissions and freshwater resources.

Sierra Leone has experienced gradual but noteworthy progress in technology and innovation, exemplified by increased internet usage, a surge in mobile phone subscriptions, and a steady production of scientific and technical articles, reflecting broader trends seen across low-income countries.

Sierra Leone has demonstrated progress in gender equality, increased life satisfaction, managed an expanding dependency ratio, and maintained a relatively low but slightly increasing percentage of residents born abroad, reflecting modest economic, societal, and demographic shifts that resonate with broader trends observed in low-income countries.

In the past two decades, Sierra Leone has shown notable improvements in governance as reflected by increased scores in rule of law, reduced perception of corruption, expanded political civil liberties, and slightly better press freedom, traits that signify a striving commitment to democratic principles often challenging in the context of low-income countries.