Democratic Republic of Congo CountRy bRief no. 6 Indigenous Peoples April 2011 64766 Socioeconomic status of the Pygmies in the Democratic Republic of Congo Arbi Ben-Achour, Prospere Backiny-Yetna, and Quentin Wodon Traditionally, the Pygmies in the Democratic (such as the poverty gap) suggest even larger Arbi Ben-Achour Republic of Congo have been closely attached differences between the Pygmies and the rest (mbenachour@worldbank to the rain forest, the source of their spirituality, of the population. The data also suggests that .org) is lead social development specialist livelihood, and protection. They used to lead a the pygmy population is significantly less well in the Post Conflict and nomadic life in camps of 30–40 families, which educated, more rural, and more involved in the Social Development maintained regular links with each other. But informal sector than the rest of the population. Unit of the Africa today their lifestyle is in danger, as they become Pygmies are hard working, as suggested by very Region at the World more sedentary, lose access to the forest, and face high rates of labor force participation, but they Bank. Prospere Backiny- Yetna (pbackinyyetna@ a deteriorating relationship with Bantu farmers. appear to be especially vulnerable. worldbank.org) is Research suggests that there could be any- The main reasons behind the Pygmies’ impov- a consultant for the where from 100,000 to 600,000 Pygmies in the erishment are linked to their past as well as to Development Dialogue the Democratic Republic of Congo, which would current Congolese society. The loss of access on Values and Ethics in represent up to slightly more than 1 percent of to and the depletion of natural resources— the Human Development the country’s population. In the “123� survey con- caused by the proliferation of cut-and-burn Network at the World Bank. Quentin Wodon ducted in 2004/05, 29 of 11,959 households self- agriculture, among other reasons—are affect- (qwodon@worldbank.org) identify as Pygmies, which extrapolates to 63,097 ing the Pygmies. The foresight and planning is the advisor and Pygmies out of a total population of 54 million skills needed to successfully transition from life program manager people. This number likely underestimates the as hunter-gatherers to agriculture are lacking for the Development number of Pygmies because they are difficult to among the Pygmies. The Bantu’s feelings of Dialogue on Values and Ethics in the Human reach and thus are often underrepresented in superiority and disdain for the Pygmies as well Development Network household surveys. as the Pygmies’ self-disregard, passive attitude, at the World Bank. While the sample in the 123 survey is not large and feeling of inferiority are harmful. Pygmy enough to lead to robust findings, differences in families sometimes own small parcels of land, poverty between the Pygmies and the rest of the but more often they work as farm hands for the population are large (table 1). Poverty is wide- Bantu in the communities in which they live. spread in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Their labor is paid at a very low rate, at best about with 71.7 percent of the population estimated half of what a Bantu laborer would get paid. to be poor, but the share of the Pygmy popula- Average household monthly income is only $20. tion that is poor is even higher, at 84.8 percent. That school enrollment rates are very low Measures of poverty that take into account not (especially in secondary education) despite the only the share of the poor but also the distance fact that most Pygmies are now sedentary and separating the poor from the poverty line have lived close to Bantu villages for at least 15 This brief is based on a chapter in the forthcoming volume, Indigenous Peoples, Poverty and Development, edited by Gillette Hall and Harry Anthony Patrinos. It is not a formal publication of the World Bank. It is circulated to encourage thought and discussion, and its use and citation should take this into account. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank. indigenous peoples country brief Democratic republic of congo Table 1 poverty and human development indicators in the democratic republic of congo, by ethnicity, 2005 Indicator Pygmies Non-Pygmies Share of population living in rural areas 95.0 70.0 Share of population that is female 51.6 50.4 Average age 26.7 20.9 Median age 24.0 16.0 Share of female-headed households 6.6 17.1 Average age of household head 41.7 43.3 Average household size 3.2 5.3 School enrollment rate (age 6–11) 18.7 56.1 Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) 30.5 65.0 Labor force participation rate (% ages 15 and older) 85.9 73.8 Adult unemployment rate (% ages 15 and older) 1.0 6.2 Share working in informal sector (%) 100.0 90.2 Poverty incidence (%) 84.8 71.7 Poverty gap 39.4 32.4 Number of households surveyed 29 11,930 Number of individuals surveyed 110 64,454 Source: authors’ estimates based on 2004/05 census data. 2 years suggests that the Pygmies have limited They are poorly informed about diseases and access to public schools. Many Pygmy parents disease transmission, vaccination campaigns do not have the means to pay for their children’s often fail to reach or target them, and access education. Negative attitudes in schools persist to health infrastructure or medication is often toward Pygmy children, who often lack school nonexistent. uniforms, pens, and books. And school atten- The Pygmies in the Democratic Republic of dance by Pygmy children is interrupted by trips Congo tend to live in extreme poverty. At the to the forest for several days or weeks. same time, they embody a valuable cultural heri- The Pygmies’ health status and access to tage that should be protected and preserved, one health services are poorly documented, but of the most original forms of human adaptation for the most part Pygmies have limited access to the particular ecological conditions of the to primary health care and use mainly tradi- rain forest. They have a sophisticated knowledge tional medicine. Such issues as tropical para- of their environment and the possibilities for sites, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, humans to adapt to it in a sustainable manner. infectious and respiratory diseases, and high The Pygmies are clearly accelerating their maternal and infant mortality affect the Pygmies integration into the broader society as they more than other population groups. This is due become more sedentary, but this process— partly to the Pygmies’ lifestyle—including poor unmanaged and with little input from the hygiene, consumption of unclean water, promis- Pygmies themselves—is linked to their impov- cuity, and smoke-infested houses—and partly erishment, exploitation, and poor health and to their exclusion from the healthcare system. education outcomes.