Connectivity: In Liberia, nearly no one has Internet access (0.03 per 100). South Africa has 84 mobile phones per 100 people; Ethiopia has 1 per 100. On an average, only 4.7 per cent of arable land is irrigated.

Price of conflict: The civilian war in Sudan’s Darfur has affected more than 4.7 million people. According to the UN, clashes have displaced more than 3,15,000 people in Darfur since January 2008.

Zimbabwe in distress: The country’s official inflation rate rose to 231 million per cent in July and could be above one billion percent now. The country is now 158 out of 181 economies rated in the World Bank doing business category. Agricultural failure has resulted in more than two-thirds of the country’s 12 million population requiring food aid. (Source: Zimbabwe Independent, December 18, 2008).