Senegal Statistics

Senegal's GDP using purchasing power parity is $25.4 billion, but the official GDP is $14.7 billion dollars. GDP per capita is $1,900. Unemployment is at 48%, poverty is at 54%, and inflation is at 3.4%. The literacy rate is at 39.3% and life expectancy is 60.18 years average; for men it is at 58.22 years, and for women it is 62.19 years.

In the article "Why Did Human History Unfold Differently On Different Continents For The Last 13,000 Years?", author Jared Diamond argues that differences among human societies can be attributed to unique environmental conditions instead of biological differences between the people themselves. Diamond constructs his argument by working from the Colonization Era backwards and ending with the conditions of the separate continents. He attributes Eurasia's success in colonization to it's axis that runs East to West as opposed to North and South. This axis, combined with easily domesticated livestock unique to the continent, expedited the spread of technologies and germs. The early exposure to germs in Eurasia overtime created an immunity among the population, but were carried by European explorers to these distant lands. The most important determinant that Diamond identifies as the key to a society's success is environmental differences. While the success of Eurasia could be attributed to the obvious factors of guns, germs, and steel, Diamond argues that the climate unique to Eurasia eventually led to the development of these technologies. These ideas led to the success of the continent during colonization, and the effects are still obvious today. Many of the countries in Europe and Asia have the biggest economies and highest GDP's in the world. The terms 'developed countries' and 'underdeveloped countries' were coined by members of these 'first world' countries, and are used to explain the differences between countries that use modern technologies and those that do not. Also, the lack of livestock or arable land in some continents can contribute to how large the country's GDP is and how large a population can get. Furthermore, Diamond's argument provides evidence that it is not physical or mental differences between people but environmental factors that led to the colonization of peoples. Up until quite recently, there has been a theory of evolution that states Europeans went through the 'neanderthal' stage, an extra stage of evolution unique to caucasians. During the Age of Exploration, the movement of scientific racism attributed the smaller skulls of African peoples to a lesser intellectual state than that of Europeans. Diamond proves that this is not at all the case, therefore changing scientific thought on the matter.