Madagascar
Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world (587,295 km2) located in the Indian Ocean, some 400 km off the coast of Mozambique. The Republic of Madagascar comprises the main island and a number of small islands and is divided into six provinces and 22 administrative regions. In 2019 it had a population of some 25.68 million people with a low population density of 42.8 inhabitants per km2. 80.5% of the population live in the rural areas while 19.5% (5 million people) live in cities, of whom 2.58 million people live in major urban centres and 2.42 million in secondary urban centres.
Socio-economic indicators
browse all
Land Area
58,180,000 ha
GDP/Capita
1,463.6 USD
Total population
28,915,700
Urban population
37.2 %
Land-related indicators
browse all
A ‘degradation myth’ has been long propagated, associating biodiversity loss primarily with the extensive ’slash and burn’ farming system, often excluding the substantive impacts from mining, plantation agriculture and commercial logging