Niger, an emerging democracy landlocked in the increasingly unstable Sahel region, consistently ranks at or near the bottom of the United Nations Human Development Index.
Despite increased economic growth, poor infrastructure, extremely low education levels and multiple concurrent natural disasters have hampered broad-based development. Economic progress is further challenged by the highest fertility rate in the world, which essentially doubles the population every twenty years. These hurdles, coupled with an increasing presence of violence, crime and violent extremism, particularly along the border regions with neighboring Mali, Libya and Nigeria, put Niger at risk of a reversal in positive development gains that have been made throughout the country in recent years.