The Ivory Coast, a former colony of France, it is a developing state located in West Africa. The official language in the country is French, and the official name of the state is République de Côte d’Ivoire. In order to improve the well-being of all, including developing countries, the United Nations outlined Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There are many goals that were created by the UN, but this paper will only examine how the Ivory Coast tries to reach two SDGs; quality of education, and good health and well-being.
(Source of the picture: https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/ about-us/sustainable.development-goals-sdgs-and-disability.html)
The Ivory Coast’s economy is developing rapidly, but there are political tendencies
within the country that are moving towards an authoritarian regime. The largest economic sectors of the Ivory Coast are food production and the extraction of natural resources. Due to these industries, the state had significant improvements in its GDP over the last decade with an average growth rate of ~7% from 2012 (The World Bank in Côte d’Ivoire 2025). However, the political situation in the country is concerning. The current president of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, assumed power in 2010 and has been in power since then. He managed to change the constitution, which allowed him to be elected for a third term, and it is still unclear if Ouattara will run for reelection for a fourth term in 2025 (The World Bank in Côte d’Ivoire 2025). The Elections in 2020 that led to the third term of the current president, were proclaimed as unfair by many opposition parties in the Ivory Coast since they believe that elections were manipulated in favor of Ouattara (Côte d’Ivoire: Freedom in the World 2024 Country Report 2024). That said, the Ivory Coast is significantly improving its economy’s GDP, but it is characterized as “partly free” by Freedom House Democracy Index.
One of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN is education. Currently, the Ivory Coast is experiencing educational problems in the state, such high dropout rates and a gender gap within educational institutions. Sustainable Development Goal 4.1 states that in order to achieve the goal, all boys and girls have to be able to complete free and valuable education by 2030 (The 17 Goals | Sustainable Development 2015). Even though the Ivory Coast is trying to improve its educational system, the percentage of successful completion of elementary school for girls is 68%, and for boys is 69%. This means that the dropout rate from elementary school reaches
30-31%. However, the percentage of secondary education dropouts is substantially higher than in elementary school. The dropout rate for secondary school is 55% for women and 60% for men, respectively, based on the data in 2020 (Côte d’ivoire: Education Country Brief 2024). Since 2022, the Ivory Coast government and World Bank have been trying to increase matriculation by increasing the educational budget of the state, so it can improve the quality of education and enroll more students (Ndri 2022). In 2022, the successful rate of completion of secondary school in the Ivory Coast was 68%, but after the support from World Bank and distributions made by the government, the rate increased to 80% in 2023 (Ivory Coast Primary School Completion Rate – Data, Chart 2023). Additionally, the Ivory Coast is undergoing a gender gap in educational institutions where men have higher rates of enrollment than women. The gender gap is another target for SDG 4.5. It asserts that by 2030, countries should eliminate the gender gap in educational institutions and provide everybody with equal opportunity to learn. In the Ivory
Coast, the rate of male enrollment in secondary school institutions is 58%, while women have
52%. For tertiary education, it is 9% for women and 11% for men (Côte d’Ivoire: Education Country Brief 2024). To remedy this, the World Bank Group finances institutions and programs that would provide special courses, specifically for girls and women. They learn how to read and write, but also examine law and health (‘Safe Spaces’ Give out-of-School Ivorian Girls New Confidence for the Future 2019). This effort showed the improvement in the women enrollment in tertiary education after the start of the World Bank support in 2019 (Ivory Coast Female to Male Ratio, Students at Tertiary Level Education – Data, Chart 2023).
Ivory Coast: Primary school completion rate (Source of the picture: https:// www.theglobaleconomy.com/ivory-coast/Primary_school_completion_rate/)
Currently, the Ivory Coast is improving its health-related indicators, however, maternal mortality rate and the issue of alcohol abuse remain as concerns in the state. Sustainable Development Goal for health, numbers 3.1 and 3.5, state that, by 2030, the maternal mortality ratio should be less than 70 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, and alcohol abuse should be lower compared to previous countrys’ consumption of pure alcohol per year (The 17 Goals | Sustainable Development 2015). In the Ivory Coast, the maternal mortality rate in 2015 was 505 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births (Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 Live Births) 2023). Nonetheless, due to the implemented actions and the help of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ivory Coast was able to lower the ratio in 2023 to 359 deaths out of every 100,000 babies born. In order to improve the maternal mortality rate, the WHO provided prenatal consultations and emergency help in critical situations to women (Donors Making a Difference to Maternal Health: The Urgent Drive to Save Women’s Lives across the World
2024). This approach showed its effectiveness, and the rate decreased substantially from 2019 to 2023. Therefore, it is important to maintain the same strategy in order to reach the mission. Moreover, the Ivory Coast government counteracts alcohol consumption by implementing bans on strong and extremely cheap alcohol substances, one of them called “Che Guevara”. This alcohol drink consists of spiced rum and chemicals with an alcohol by volume figure as high as
43% (Corey-boulet 2016). Before new regulations in late 2015, pure alcohol consumption in Ivory Coast was 24.7 liters per person annually. However, after implemented actions, consumption decreased to 19.5 liters in 2021 (Alcoholic Beverage Consumption per Capita (Total) in Ivory Coast 2023). This and other restrictions proved to be impactful on overall alcohol consumption, which could signify that the country is moving in the right direction.
I think that some parts of the Sustainable Development Goals can be achieved by the Ivory Coast, but it will not be able to accomplish the desirable result by 2030. The Ivory Coast could meet the objective of decreasing the gender gap in educational institutions, that is a number 4.5 in SDG of quality of education. They would be able to meet that goal if the government would further promote and fund the women’s education system. However, the Ivory Coast is facing the societal problem of child marriage. Child marriage and child pregnancy are still a significant matter in Ivory Coast society, which influencing the attendance of women in school (Cote d’ivoire: Education Country Brief 2024). The Ivory Coast could also meet the goal by number 3.5 in SDG of good health and well-being, the prevention of alcohol abuse by 2030 because they were able to decrease their consumption of pure alcohol significantly. Yet, people in IThe vory Coast have a big alcohol culture that potentially could be a barrier in improving alcohol abuse (Corey-boulet 2016). Unfortunately, the Ivory Coast likely will not be able to achieve a satisfying ratio in maternal mortality and provide free and valuable education to all boys and girls by 2030. Even though the maternal mortality ratio has improved significantly, the desirable ratio would not be achieved by 2030 because the gap is still significant. Moreover, free and valuable education probably will not be achieved as well due to the fact that Ivory Coast can not finance its educational institutions without international aid. If the international aid is stopped due to some reason, the rate of successful school complition will drop significantly. However, there were beneficial actions done to improve both targets, and there is a hope that they will continue to develop over time. That said, the Ivory Coast will someday be able to meet some of the targets and even significantly improve its overall assessment, but it will not be able to reach any of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
In conclusion, the Ivory Coast is trying to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, such as quality of education and health and well-being. The Ivory Coast could meet both of these goals partially by eliminating the gender gap in educational institutions and decreasing the consumption of alcohol per capita. However, the country will not be able to fully achieve these goals even though significant improvements were made. Nevertheless, it is still important to help developing nations to achieve Sustainable Development Goals because it will save thousands of lives and improve millions more. The help of developed countries and even individuals could have a significant impact and could provide better living conditions for everybody.
Tsimafei Yankovich
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