Since the end of Angola's twenty seven year long civil war in 2002, the country has seen unprecedented economic growth however over 68% of Angola people still live on less than $2 a day. The boom in this economic growth has largely been fuelled by oil exports with Angola now Africa's second main il producer after Nigeria however has this boom had led to an increasing divide between the haves and have-nots in Angola. It is estimated that the gap between the richest 10% of Angolans differs by 130 times that of poor Angolans ($25,000 and $190 respectively.)

There have been reports that much of this wealth created by the oil industry has gone missing and there have been calls for Angola's government to account for $32 billion that appears to have disappeared from its coffers in recent years, money that appears to have found its way into the bank accounts of the already rich, not spent on meeting the needs of those living in poverty in Angola. The government has dismissed these allegations, however, Transparency International, the anti-corruption campaigning body, ranked Angola in the top 20 most corrupt countries in the world in recent years.

Poverty is more severe, as expected, in rural areas of the country where few houses have running water or sanitation with most fetching water from unsafe sources. Housing is very basic and access to health services is poor with the highest infant mortality rate in the world. 45% of children in Angola suffer from malnutrition and life expectancy is just 38yrs with subsistence farming being the main livelihood for the majority of Angolan citizens. This video shows the disparities between the rich and poor in Angola.