Due to a majority of the country being illiterate, individuals have a lack of knowledge of their basic rights and how to bring about change to their lives and country. As one of the members of Parliament said: "We can make Sierra Leone become a full participant in the global society and help to create wealth or income for our citizens through private sector jobs and small business opportunities on a national level, provide opportunities through education, technology and investment. This will eliminate the real enemy: Poverty" (Sierra Leone's Common Enemies: Poverty and Underdevelopment). I absolutely agree with that statement and would like to see Sierra Leone as a successful, tourists-oriented country that has a lot to offer. .
The country's poorest people are landless people and small-scale farmers, particularly women who head rural households. Among these groups, the most disadvantaged are people who were refugees or internally displaced during the war, including young people, sexually abused young women and single mothers. According to research poverty is heavily concentrated in rural areas and in urban areas outside Freetown, the capital. About 75 percent of the entire population was living below the poverty line in 2007 and more than half of them live on less than a dollar a day. The proportion of poor people living in rural areas is about 80 percent. The Northern and southern provinces and in the eastern border provinces, which were particularly hit by the war. .
Consequence of poverty in Sierra Leone includes a life expectancy of 37 years, which is the record for the world's shortest life expectancy. Problems of poverty and childhood death are expected to drive the life expectancy even lower. Over 70% of the population is unemployed and 30% of children do not live passed the age of 5. A majority of young children are pulled away from education and recruited to the national army where they are taught to fight and kill.
