Why the new Pope matters

WHY THE NEW POPE MATTERS His pronouncements on birth control and social issues will have a direct impact on some of the poorest countries in the world. % of Catholics Burundi DRC Lesotho Uganda Angola Mozambique CAR* Togo Chad Swaziland UK 61.4% 50% 45% 41.9% 38% 28.4% 25% 25% 20.1% 20% 9% % of adults with HIV 3.3% 1.3% 24% 6.5% 2% 12% 4.7% 3.2% 3.4% 26% 0.2% 9% 21% 47% 24% 6% 16% 19% 17% 3% 51% 84% Contraceptive prevalence rate (%) Average children per woman Burundi DRC Lesotho Uganda Angola Mozambique CAR Togo Chad Swaziland UK 4.2 5.7 3.1 6.1 5.3 4.8 4.5 5.9 3.3 1.9 Abortion rights ========== Few None None Few None Few None Few Few Few Some Is same-sex sexual activity legal? No Yes No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes Gender Inequality Index 0.0 = Full equality Burundi DRC Lesotho Uganda Angola Mozambique CAR Togo Chad Swaziland UK 0.0 1.0 0478 0.71 0.532 0.577 0.602 0.669 0.602 0.735 0.546 0.209 Bad Very Very Very Very Bad Good Very Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad Bad * Unavailable Source: 1 CIA World Factbook - extracted March 1, 2013; news.bbc.co.uk, 'Roman Catholicism in Equatorial Guinea' by Lambert M Surhone (Google Books), www.theafricancourier.de 2 % of 18-49 year olds with HIV. Source: UNAIDS online - via gapminder 3 All methods of contraception, married women 18-49. Source: hdr.undp.org 4 Source: World Bank 5 Abortion rates are classified here as All = abortion on request, Some = health reasons, economic and social reasons, rape, incest and other cases, Few = to save the health of the mother and/or cases of rape, incest and/or foetal impairment only, None= abortion is illegal. Source: Center for Reproductive Rights 6 By legal, we mean for both genders. In some countries (e.g. Lesotho), it is legal for women but not men. Penalties in countries where same-sex sexual activity is illegal range from fines to death. http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2012.pdf 7 Gender Inequality Index. Divided into approximate quintiles. Rank 1-29 = Very good; Rank 30-58 = good; Rank 59-88 = Average; Rank 89-118-Bad; Rank 119-146=Very bad. Source: hdr.undp.org guardiandigitalagency