Although the civil war was 'won', it badly affected food distribution and left an estimated third of a million people dead. Since that time, the country has been in almost perpetual conflict and is currently run by a coalition comprising the Internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government and the former Islamist government. However violence is ever present with Al Shabaab and other groups opposed to the Somali government carrying out deadly attacks in and around Mogadishu on an almost daily basis. Somalia is badly fractionalised and in dispute with itself and its neighbours over borders and territories with prospects for peace low with daily outbreaks of fighting across the land and particularly around the capital city of Mogadishu.

Such is the situation in Somalia that when ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards of a country Somalia is not rated as there is too little data on the level of national economic development in the country due to political instability and the ongoing conflict.

The life expectancy in Somalia is 55.28 years (2021) and 44% of the country' population are children under the age of fifteen. Of those over fourteen, just 37.8% are literate (male, 49.7%; female 25.8%) and 71% of all children suffer from malnourishment. Shockingly, an estimated 200,000 Somalia children are believed to have taken up arms during the conflict there. Aid agencies do operate in Somalia, however workers have been kidnapped and killed as well as facing other threats. Most of the work in Somalia is to get humanitarian aid in quickly then withdraw and leave longer term planning until there is some semblance of order in the country. As a result, millions are suffering both physical and emotional trauma as well as shortages of life essentials. Find out more about Somalia today in the profile articles above.