Zimbabwe

choi

Gabriele Steinhauser and Bernard Mpofu, Zimbabwe Ruler Clings to Power. Wall Street Journal, Nov 20, 2017.

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the text.
(b) The bar chart that accompanies the report is insightful. I doubt South Africa is in the same league as China (as in BRICS).

"By the Numbers
While much smaller than Nigeria and South Africa, the two biggest economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe grew faster than both countries last year and matches or surpasses the regional average in several key development indicators.


.......................................GDP, 2015 in billions .......Annual change in GDP, 2016...Share of population earning less than $1.9/day* .......Life expectancy ...Adult literacy rate
Zimbabwe .....................$16.1 .................................0.7% .........................................21% ............................................................................60 years ...............84%
Nigeria ..........................$405.4 ..............................-1.6 .............................................54% ...........................................................................53 ........................51
South Africa ..................$294.9 ..............................0.3 .............................................17% ............................................................................62 ........................93
Sub-Saharan average.....N/A ..................................1.4 ..............................................44% ...........................................................................60 ........................61

* 2011 purchasing power parity
Sources: IMF; World Bank”

(c) Zimbabwe
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zimbabwe
(map; section 1 Etymology; table: independence from UK + Area 390.757 km2, water [lakes, rivers] 1% + Population: 2016 estimate 16m, 2012 census 13m)
(d) Zimbabwe is "much smaller than Nigeria and South Africa" in terms of not just economy, but area and population also,
(i) Nigeria (table: independence from UK + Area: 923,768 km2, water 1.4% + Population: 2016 estimate 186m (7th [largest in world], 2006 census 140m)
(ii) South Africa (table: independence from UK + Area: 1,221,037 km2, water negligible + Population: 2015 estimate 55m, 2011 census 52m)

Both (d)(i) and (ii) are from en.wikipedia.org.