Madagascar

Located in the Indian Ocean, just east of Mozambique, Madagascar is the world's fourth-largest island and one of the most environmentally complex places on the planet. Madagascar was one of the last places in the world to become settled by humans. The French government took possession of the island in 1896; less than seventy years later, Madagascar regained its independence. Since then, the citizens of Madagascar have witnessed the tumultuous early years of independence, years of stability under single-party rule, and political upheaval in the early twenty-first century.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: The inhabitants of Madagascar are known as Malagasy. As remote as the island of Madagascar has often seemed to outsiders, its lush forests and ample coastline have been home to more cultures and ethnicities than scholars have been able to trace.

The population of Madagascar, totaling approximately 29,452,714 in 2024, is often divided into at least eighteen ethnic groups, based on the boundaries of old kingdoms. Though most Malagasy are multiethnic, some common regional traits may be found. The Merina and Betsileo groups, for instance, are ethnically Malayo-Indonesian. The Betsimisaraka, Tsimihety, Antaisaka, and Sakalava people are characterized as Cotiers (a blend of African, Malayo-Indonesian, and Arab ancestry). Other Malagasy ancestors hail from France, India, and the islands of Comoros between Madagascar and Mozambique. In addition, Madagascar has a significant Creole population (those born in the country but of mixed heritage, including African or European ancestry).

Nearly three-quarters of Madagascar's population practices Christianity, and there is a small population of Muslims. Even among these portions of the population, however, traditional beliefs and practices remain important. About 1.7 percent of Malagasy adhere to traditional Indigenous or Animist beliefs exclusively. (2021 estimates)

Malagasy and French are Madagascar’s official languages. Although French is an official language, Madagascar's population speaks Malagasy almost universally.

Madagascar is one of the world's least-developed countries. In 2023, 40.6 percent of its population lived in urban areas. The country's poverty, transportation issues, and fragile health care and education systems have contributed to a high infant mortality rate (37.5 deaths per 1,000 live births), and a low average life expectancy (68.8 years) (2024 estimates). International observers estimated that only 85 percent of Madagascar's urban population and 62 percent of its rural population had access to clean drinking water in 2020.

Madagascar's HDI value for 2023 was 0.487—which put the country in the Low human development category—positioning it at 183 out of 193 countries and territories.

Indigenous People: Although some earlier cultures may have existed on Madagascar, most of the island's first people emigrated from Africa, Southeast Asia, and Indonesia 1,500 to 2,000 years ago. Blending cultural practices from all of these locations with influences from Arab traders, European pirates, and French colonists, the current Malagasy population is a cultural and ethnic mix of the many peoples who have inhabited the island throughout history.

Education: President Marc Ravalomanana, who served from 2001 to 2009, made education reform in the country a priority during his administration, building new schools and increasing teacher training and recruitment. Work to improve Madagascar’s education system continues. The country spends an estimated 3 percent of GDP on education (2023 estimate). Primary school enrollment is now universal, but enrollment in secondary school is far less common. In 2021, the country’s literacy rate was 74.7 percent overall.

Health Care: Madagascar's health care system is a patchwork of public health clinics, programs run by international humanitarian and aid organizations, and traditional medicine. Though 1,500 government-sponsored health clinics were constructed in the 1970s, many later closed, and essential health services remain difficult to obtain. More advanced and reliable care is available from clinics and hospitals run by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and through programs funded by other governments.

Food: Malagasy cuisine begins with vary, or rice, garnished with beef, fish, or chicken. Stews like romazava (beef and vegetable stew) and ravitoto (pork stew with manioc greens) are mainstays, and many meals are served with achards, a hot, pickled vegetable curry.

Madagascar's long, tropical coastlines mean good seafood and tropical fruit, including pineapples, lychees, mangoes, and bananas, are available at almost any time of year.

Arts & Entertainment: The arts in Madagascar show both African and Indonesian influences. In music, dance rhythms predominate. Melodies and percussion are woven together using the flute, whistles, and the cordophone or lokanga voatavo. Malagasy musicians also use the kabosy, a small guitar, and the valiha, a long, slender harp-like instrument with twenty-eight strings. One of Madagascar's most popular musicians, Paul Bert Rahasimanana, modernized a traditional form of singing with elaborate rhythms made by hand clapping.

Madagascar's traditional form of oral storytelling and speaking is called kabary. Begun as a form of political debate, kabary is now an important form of entertainment and a source of inspiration for the Malagasy literary tradition that began in the 1930s and 1940s.

Holidays: Madagascar celebrates a combination of Christian holidays, such as Easter and Christmas; national days such as Insurrection Day (March 29), in celebration of the Malagasy rebellion against the French; and traditionally-based events such as the Donia, a music festival held in early summer.

The Malagasy also celebrate Organization of African Unity Day (May 25), Anniversary Day (May 8), Republic Day (December 30), and Alahamady Be (a Malagasy New Year celebration in March). During Fisemana, in June, the Indigenous Antakàrana participate in a ritual purification ceremony, and the Famadihana ("turning of the bones") ceremony in which bones of Malagasy ancestors are exhumed, entertained with stories and music, and reburied during the summer months.

Environment and Geography

Topography: Madagascar is over 1,580 kilometers (1,000 miles) long and 570 kilometers (350 miles) wide. A large mountain chain runs the length of the island, soaring to a height of 2,876 meters (9,450 feet) on Mount Maromokofro on the northern part of the island.

Isolated by the Tsaratanana mountain chain, the northern region of the country experiences the island's most extreme weather, creating a mixed landscape of barren promontories, sunken lagoons, and high altitude rainforest.

To the east and south of the mountains, the land flattens toward coastal plains spotted by rivers, caves, and waterfalls. Part of an ancient rainforest still thrives in these areas. Dry forests cover the western coast and southernmost point of the island.

Natural Resources: Madagascar's natural resources include graphite, chromite, coal, bauxite, salt, quartz, tar sands, semiprecious stones, and mica. In addition, multinational drug companies have been scouring the island's amazing rainforests for medicinal plants.

Plants & Animals: Madagascar's biodiversity is legendary. Isolated off the coast of Africa, many unique plant and animal species have developed and been preserved. Dense, vibrant rainforests once covered large swaths of the island, providing a unique home for lemurs, geckos, medicinal periwinkles, sifakas, and octopus trees.

Although more than 50 percent of the island's rainforest has been destroyed for human habitation or for short-term farming, the country is still home to ten thousand species of plants, many of which can only be found in Madagascar.

The country also boasts about four hundred species of reptiles and amphibians, one thousand species of orchids, and a host of birds and animals that exist only on the island. Unfortunately, Madagascar's pervasive poverty and huge population growth has provided scant protection for the country's ecology, and many species are on the endangered list.

Climate: Madagascar has experienced increasingly severe climate hazards, including prolonged droughts, cyclones, flooding, and extreme rainfall events. Traditionally, Madagascar has a tropical climate, featuring six distinct microclimates: the North, the Western Dry Forest, the East, the Southern Rainforest, and the Southern Dry Forest. The rainy season lasts from December to April, bringing up to 355 centimeters (140 inches) of rainfall in wetter regions and as little as 30 centimeters (12 inches) in drier areas. The dry season from May to November has average midday temperatures of 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) in the highlands and 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) along the coast. Madagascar’s location in the Indian Ocean also exposes it to cyclones between November and March, while deforestation and other environmental changes exacerbate drought risk. Historical events, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that struck the eastern coast, illustrate the island’s vulnerability, which is expected to grow under ongoing climate shifts.

Economy

Madagascar maintains a primarily agriculture-based economy, with agriculture centers in the fertile and temperate high plateau regions around the country's capital. Because the high plateaus are also home to Madagascar's commercial and intellectual centers (Andasibe, Antananarivo, Antsirabe, and Fianarantsoa), new industries tend to appear in this region.

The garment industry flourished beginning in 2000 as a result of tax-free access to the US retail market, but declined sharply after that policy was canceled in 2010. In 2015, Madagascar regained access to markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Tourism is also a significant industry for Madagascar, though the long-term future of tourism in the country depends upon finding ways to stop the rampant deforestation of the rainforest areas. In addition, the social ramifications of a booming sex industry continues to result in widespread health challenges.

Overall gross domestic product (GDP) was an estimated US$52.968 billion  in 2024. The estimated per capita GDP was US$1,700.

Industry: Major industries in Madagascar include meat processing, breweries, and tanneries. Soap, sugar, glassware, cement, textiles, and paper are also produced on the island. Madagascar has natural petroleum reserves and an automobile assembly industry. The country's largest export partners include the United States, France, Japan, China, and South Korea.

Madagascar's timber and paper goods production generally comes at the expense of ancient rainforests. Timber is still the most common building material in the country, and charcoal and wood are still the most common form of fuel.

Agriculture: Agriculture has long been the mainstay of the Malagasy economy, and continues to employ a majority of the country's workforce. Malagasy farmers grow coffee, sugarcane, cloves, cocoa, rice, cassava (tapioca), beans, bananas, and tropical fruits, in addition to raising livestock.

Madagascar's most famous crop, however, is the vanilla bean, and the country produces about 80 percent of the world's supply. Vanilla (as well as coffee and cloves) tends to come from Madagascar's lush eastern forests, making the local Betsimisaraka people Madagascar's wealthiest.

Madagascar uses a significant portion of its land for agriculture, including permanent pasture. Unfortunately, impoverished farmers on the eastern half of the island have been clearing and burning rainforest lands, a process known as slash-and-burn agriculture, in order to grow short-term crops. The erosion created by this deforestation and the intensive harvesting mean that these lands are fertile for no more than five years worth of farming. Ecologists are looking for ways to improve farming techniques in the country in order to preserve the ancient rainforests while still alleviating poverty.

Tourism: Ecotourism plays a significant role in Madagascar’s economy. The country’s coastline and interior feature numerous national reserves that protect the island’s unique flora and fauna, attracting visitors from around the world. Montagne d'Ambre remains one of the most popular parks, home to more than seventy-five bird species and the distinctive blue-nosed chameleon. Parc National des Tsingy de Bemaraha, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, also draws considerable attention. This park, which includes both Grand Tsingy and Petit Tsingy, is located north of the Manambolo Gorge and showcases Madagascar’s remarkable geological formations and biodiversity.

Government

Since the sixteenth century, Madagascar's natural resources and strategic ports have attracted European powers. After the Portuguese and the Dutch failed to establish the island as a colony, the Merina tribe established its domination of the island with official recognition from the British government in 1820. By 1883, however, the British had traded their influence in Madagascar for France's release of Zanzibar. Two years later, the French invaded and declared Madagascar a French colony.

The British seized Madagascar again during World War II (1939–45), but returned it to the French government at the end of the war. In 1947, the Malagasy began an armed rebellion against French authorities. The French responded brutally, killing as many as 80,000 Malagasy. Madagascar memorializes the rebellion each year on Insurrection Day. In spite of lingering hostilities, the Malagasy voted to become semi-autonomous within the French collective of overseas nations in 1960.

Madagascar gradually disassociated from France, but a series of repressive and often short-lived regimes kept the country in a state of economic and political turmoil until the 1996 reelection of Admiral Didier Ratsiraka. Since that time, Madagascar has worked closely with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and international authorities to rebuild the country's economy. In spite of a dramatic downturn following the 2001 election crisis, Madagascar showed signs of slow improvements in economic and social conditions in the first decades of the twenty-first century. Another economic setback occurred in 2020, resulting from the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused global trade disruptions and triggered a recession in Madagascar.

Madagascar is officially a republic with six provinces, or faritany: Antananarivo, Antsiranana, Fianarantsoa, Mahajanga, Toamasina, and Toliara. The country's president is elected by popular vote to a five-year term. He or she appoints a prime minister, and the prime minister appoints a Council of Ministers.

The legislative branch consists of a bicameral National Assembly (Antenimierampirenena) with 151 seats and a Senate with 63 seats. National Assembly members are elected to four-year terms; eighty-seven of the seats are elected by majority vote in one-seat constituencies, while sixty-four are elected by proportional representation in two-seat constituencies. Members of the Senate serve six-year terms; forty-two members are elected by an electoral college and twenty-one are appointed by the president.

Madagascar's legal system is based on French civil law and traditional laws. An eleven-member Supreme Court and a nine-member High Constitutional Court are the highest courts in the country.

Interesting Facts

• Madagascar was formed when it tore off from the African coastline during a cataclysmic earthquake about 165 million years ago. Over the past 45 million years, the island has drifted to its present position 400 kilometers (250 miles) to the northeast.
• Half of the world's chameleons and 90 percent of the world's lemur species live on Madagascar.
• During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Madagascar's Île Sainte Marie was port to some of the world's most dangerous pirates. More than a thousand pirates from America, Britain, France, Portugal, and Holland trolled the waters off of Madagascar for trading ships.
• In 2016, Welsh adventurer Ash Dykes completed the first recorded trek across the entire length of Madagascar, partnering with conservationist groups such as the Lemur Conservation Network to bring greater attention to the unique biodiversity of the island.

Bibliography

"Madagascar." Human Development Reports, United Nations Development Programme, 6 May. 2025, hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/MDG. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.

"Madagascar." The World Bank, data.worldbank.org/country/madagascar. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.

"Madagascar." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 26 Dec. 2025, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/madagascar/. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.

"Madagascar." World Health Organization, www.who.int/countries/mdg/en/. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.

“National Dialogue in Madagascar: Convergence of Food Systems, Climate, and Biodiversity.” Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Government of Madagascar, 10 July 2025, www.minae.gov.mg/dialogue-national-a-madagascar-vers-une-convergence-des-systemes-alimentaires-du-climat-et-de-la-biodiversite/. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.