With a population of 11.2 million, Chad is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranking 163rd out of 169 in the United Nations Development Programme’s  Human Development Report 2010. The population is vulnerable to shocks and at high risk of food crises; more than 44 percent of rural households  are food-insecure. Acute malnutrition is at a critical level of 15 percent in most regions. Since 2003,  the unstable political  and  security situation arising from  the ongoing conflicts in Chad and neighbouring  countries has  affected economic and social recovery,  and has had negative effects on the Chadian educational system, crippling development of the country’s human capital.