A large country on the edge of the Sahara desert, Niger has been ruled by the military for most of the time since independence. The UN rates it as one of the world's least-developed nations. The country is prone to droughts and sometimes struggles to feed its population.
In 2010, a lack of rainfall caused a drop in food production, leading to higher food prices and malnutrition. Approximately 1.6 million children were faced with malnutrition, including 400,000 severe cases. Niger was the worst affected country in a wider crisis in the region that also included Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Nigeria.
