Editing Ivory Coast (section)

==Economy==
{{Main|Economy of Ivory Coast}}
[[File:Cote D'ivoire Product Exports (2019).svg|upright=1.3|thumb|right|A proportional representation of Ivory Coast exports, 2019]]
[[File:GDP_per_capita_development_of_Ivory_Coast.svg|thumb|GDP per capita development]]
Ivory Coast has, for the region, a relatively high [[per capita income|income per capita]] (US$1,662 in 2017) and plays a key role in transit trade for neighbouring [[landlocked country|landlocked countries]]. As of the most recent survey in 2016, 46.1% of the population continues to be affected by [[Multidimensional Poverty Index|multidimensional poverty]].<ref name=":12" /> The country is the largest economy in the [[Economic Community of West African States|West African Economic and Monetary Union]], constituting 40% of the monetary union's total GDP. Ivory Coast is the fourth-largest exporter of general goods in sub-Saharan Africa (following South Africa, Nigeria, and Angola).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfw4a.org/cote-d-ivoire/cote-d-ivoire-financial-sector-profile.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022073819/http://www.mfw4a.org/cote-d-ivoire/cote-d-ivoire-financial-sector-profile.html |archive-date=22 October 2010 |title=Côte d'Ivoire: Financial Sector Profile |publisher=MFW4A.org |access-date=6 December 2010}}</ref>

The country is the world's largest exporter of [[cocoa bean]]s. In 2009, cocoa-bean farmers earned $2.53 billion for cocoa exports and were projected to produce 630,000 metric tons in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132047606 |title=Ivory Coast Makes 1st Cocoa Export Since January |publisher=Associated Press via NPR |date=9 May 2011 |access-date=21 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203101224/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132047606 |archive-date=3 December 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Monnier |first=Olivier |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/ivory-coast-san-pedro-port-sees-cocoa-exports-stagnating.html |title=Ivory Coast San Pedro Port Sees Cocoa Exports Stagnating |publisher=Bloomberg |date=27 March 2013 |access-date=21 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202231854/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-27/ivory-coast-san-pedro-port-sees-cocoa-exports-stagnating.html |archive-date=2 December 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> Ivory Coast also has 100,000 [[rubber]] farmers who earned a total of $105 million in 2012.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/rubber-ivorycoast-output-idUSL5N0BDB9S20130213 |title=Ivory Coast reaps more rubber as farmers shift from cocoa |work=[[Reuters]] |access-date=21 January 2014 |date=13 February 2013 |archive-date=9 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230709175238/https://www.reuters.com/article/rubber-ivorycoast-output-idUSL5N0BDB9S20130213 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ustr.gov/countries-regions/africa/west-africa/cote-divoire |title=Cote d'Ivoire &#124; Office of the United States Trade Representative |publisher=Ustr.gov |date=29 March 2009 |access-date=21 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203111023/http://www.ustr.gov/countries-regions/africa/west-africa/cote-divoire |archive-date=3 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Close ties to France since independence in 1960, diversification of agricultural exports, and encouragement of foreign investment have been factors in economic growth. In recent years, Ivory Coast has been subject to greater competition and falling prices in the global marketplace for its primary crops of coffee and cocoa. That, compounded with high internal corruption, makes life difficult for the grower, those exporting into foreign markets, and the labour force; instances of [[Indentured servitude|indentured labour]] have been reported in the country's cocoa and coffee production in every edition of the [[United States Department of Labor|U.S. Department of Labor]]'s ''List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor'' since 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/cote_divoire.htm|url-status=dead|title=2013 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Côte d'Ivoire|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227021922/http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/cote_divoire.htm |archive-date=27 February 2015 |publisher=[[United States Department of Labor]]}}</ref>

Ivory Coast's economy has grown faster than that of most other African countries since independence. One possible reason for this might be taxes on exported agriculture. Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Kenya were exceptions as their rulers were themselves large cash-crop producers, and the newly independent countries desisted from imposing penal rates of taxation on exported agriculture. As such, their economies did well.<ref>{{harvnb|Baten|2016|p=335}}.</ref>

Around 7.5 million people made up the workforce in 2009. The workforce took a hit, especially in the private sector, during the early 2000s with numerous economic crises since 1999. Furthermore, these crises caused companies to close and move locations, especially in the tourism industry, and transit and banking companies. Decreasing job markets posed a huge issue as unemployment rates grew. Unemployment rates rose to 9.4% in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ivory Coast Unemployment Rate {{!}} 1998–2017 {{!}} Data {{!}} Chart {{!}} Calendar |url=http://cotedivoire.opendataforafrica.org/blizore/unemployment-rate?Region=Cote%20D%20Ivoire |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218064852/http://cotedivoire.opendataforafrica.org/blizore/unemployment-rate?Region=Cote%20D%20Ivoire |archive-date=18 February 2017 |access-date=17 February 2017 |website=www.tradingeconomics.com}}</ref> Solutions proposed to decrease unemployment included diversifying jobs in small trade. This division of work encouraged farmers and the agricultural sector. Self-employment policy, established by the Ivorian government, allowed for very strong growth in the field with an increase of 142% in seven years from 1995.<ref>{{harvnb|Ministry of Economy|2007|pp=176–180}}.</ref>