Social situation Great disparity between urban and rural areas and between north and south

Almost 40 per cent of the country's about 28 million people are living below the national poverty line; more than 40 per cent are food insecure. Average life expectancy is just 59 years. More than half of the Ivorian population has no reliable access to safe drinking water, and the situation with regard to basic sanitation is even worse. Poverty is much higher in rural regions than in the towns and cities, and far higher in the north of the country with its weaker economy and institutions than in the south.

The illiteracy rate is 10 per cent (13 per cent for women). While official enrolment ratios have increased considerably after school fees were abolished (95 per cent in 2022), about 30 per cent of all children do not complete primary school. Child labour is widespread, especially in the country's cocoa plantations.

Introduction of universal health insurance

The vast majority of the people work in the informal sector, meaning that they usually have no social protection whatsoever. The government has started to establish a mandatory health insurance scheme for all citizens. People are no longer allowed to apply for ID documents or driving licences or attend school or higher education institutions unless they are able to present their insurance number.

In its national strategy on social protection (2024 to 2028), the Ivorian government has adopted the goal of lowering the poverty rate to just under 29 per cent by 2028. The share of informal sector workers who have social insurance is to rise from 2.5 per cent (2022) to 75 per cent, and the share of people who have health insurance is to rise from 18 to 90 per cent.

Population growth

Efforts to combat poverty are being hampered by the high birth rate. The Ivorian population is currently growing at a rate of 2.5 per cent a year; about 40 per cent of Ivorians are younger than 15 years old. The population is now more than seven times what it was when the country gained independence in 1960. More than half of the people live in cities.

Women's rights

Women’s rights are enshrined in Côte d’Ivoire's constitution. However, there are still legal provisions in place that discriminate against women, especially with regard to family law and inheritance and land rights. Although female genital mutilation is prohibited by law, it is still widely practised, especially in the northern part of the country. Rape is an offence under the criminal code, but it is hardly ever prosecuted, and there is no reliable official data on gender-based violence.

In order to improve women's political participation, a law was adopted in March 2019 decreeing that, in future, 30 per cent of candidates for parliamentary, regional and local elections must be female. Currently, the proportion of women in the national assembly is nearly 14 per cent.