A Pre-Civil Paper on Somalia's economy.

Important things to take from this survey.

No economic collapse after the Ogaden war (this myth needs to end)

Poverty was substantially lower than SSA average.

Average urban poverty was 6% early 80s, in 1985 increased to 17% and rural and nomadic poverty in the 30s%

Lowest life expectancy and school enrolment in the world.

abdiwarrior said:

How

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How what sxb?

Rocca Littorio said:

Life expectancy is not reliable due to lack of birth records in Somalia. Most probably claimed to be as young as possible.

School enrollment changed after 1972 when Barre instituted free education and literacy programs.

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The life expectancy is most likely accurate given the lack of spending on health coupled with the poor diet high in fat which Somalis consumed. The high rate of FGM which leads to birth problems and increased the risk of death for the mother also reduced the life expectancy.

The school enrolment also decreased substantially after the 1980 which was probably caused by the economic boom after the capitalist reforms of the late 70s / early 80s. Parents would have removed their kids out of school to help with business plus the government embarked in education reform aimed at increasing the amount of children in vocational training as opposed to normal secondary education. This was aimed at saving money for the government which it did but people started to see that it was less useful than normal secondary education and would have dropped their kids out of school.

There is a paper on the education sector within Somalia in the 80s. It's a good read if you have spare time.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0738059385900227