Some South Sudan facts:

• Despite being approximately the same size as France, southern Sudan has just 56km of paved roads.
• Just two out of every hundred children will complete primary school in a country that has the lowest levels of school enrolment in the world save for Afghanistan.
• Southern or South Sudan is the world's newest and 193rd country and Africa's 54th.
• Over 200 different ethnic groups live in Southern Sudan.
• 99% of southern Sudan's population voted in favour of independence in the 2011 poll.
• Southern Sudan shares its border with six other countries.
• The country's currency is the South Sudanese Pound.
• 85% of southern Sudan's population is illiterate.
• The country is home to 10.91 million (2022).
• Just 15% have access to sanitation.
• Southern Sudan consists of ten states: Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Western Equatoria (all collectively formerly known as Equatoria); Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Lakes and Warrap (all collectively formerly known as Bahr el Ghazal Province) and Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile (all collectively formerly known as Upper Nile).

South Sudan Sierra Leone is in joint bottom place with Somalia out of 191 countries and territories in 2021 when ranked in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards of a country and continues to grapple with sporadic violence, chronic food insecurity, and the devastating impact of major flooding.