General Human Development Report Burundi 1999

Following the resolution of the conflict in 1998, Burundi is now moving from aid programmes to development programmes, via a period of reconstruction. According to the poverty indicators used in this report, 56.4% and 66.5% respectively of Burundi’s rural and urban populations are considered to be living in poverty. The report recommends that, given the extent of the problem, fighting poverty should be the main objective of any development strategy and all future macro-economic and sectoral policies should aim towards poverty reduction. The report outlines huge regional disparities within the country, which demand that measures to alleviate poverty should be based on the specific needs of the various provinces. Urgent steps to be taken include, national reconciliation, economic growth, control of population growth, regional integration, management of the environment and specific regional-level policies.