typically consist of several compounds. Each compound is made up of groups of homes that house members of an extended family. Village houses have mud walls and thatched or metal roofs.
Sharp contrasts exist in housing, health, employment, and education between middle- and upper-income households and poor households in the cities. For example, wealthy and middle-class people live in modern apartment buildings or in spacious villas. The urban poor inhabit densely settled districts that receive few government services.
About half the people of Côte d’ Ivoire 15 years of age and older can read and write. The University of Cocody in Abidjan is the nationʹs largest institution of higher learning.
The land of Côte dʹIvoire rises gradually from the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern part of the coast is flat and sandy. The western part of the coast has small, rocky cliffs. Beyond the coastal strip is a tropical forest, of which much has been cleared to make farmland. In the north, the forest changes to savanna. The forest-covered Guinea highlands rise over 1,500 meters in west-central Côte d’ Ivoire.
The coastal region is hot and humid. Temperatures there vary from 24 to 28 ° C( 75-82 ° F), in the central forest region from 14 to 39 ° C( 57- 102 ° F), and in the northern savanna, the temperature rises to 49 ° C( 120 ° F).
Cocoa makes up a third of the national income of Côte d’ Ivoire. Cash cropping for big foreign corporations has replaced the local farming of the past. This means that the population is dependent on earning money from international markets to be able to buy food they used to grow themselves.
Where barter and locally produced food and goods once made life simple and stable, the need for paper money has helped to make Côte d’ Ivoire poorer.
The national labor laws of the country set the minimum age at 18 for‘ hazardous work;’ at 16 for‘ light underground work;’ and 12 for‘ light agricultural work.’ Legally, children must attend school until they are sixteen years old. However, the harsh conditions on cocoa farms can
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