Madagascar was one of the last major landmasses on earth to be colonized by humans. The earliest settlers from present-day Indonesia arrived between A.D. 350 and 550. The island attracted Arab and Persian traders as early as the 7th century, and migrants from Africa arrived around A.D. 1000.
Environment
Land use: agricultural land: 71.1%; arable land 6%; permanent crops 1%; permanent pasture 64.1%; forest: 21.5%
other: 7.4% (2011 est.)
Irrigated land:
10,860 sq km (2012)
Total renewable water resources: 337 cu km (2011)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural): total: 16.5 cu km/yr (2%/1%/97%); per capita: 1,010 cu m/yr (2005) Threatened species (2014): 428
Threatened species (2014): 929
Forested area (% of land area) (2012): 21.4
Proportion of terrestrial and marine areas protected (%) (2014): 2.0
Population using improved drinking water sources (%) (2012): 50.0
Population using improved sanitation facilities (%) (2012): 14.0
CO2 emission estimates (000 metric tons and metric tons per capita) (2011): 2450/0.1
Energy supply per capita (Gigajoules) (2012): 7.0
Environment – international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Social indicators
Population growth rate (average annual %) (2010-2015): 2.8
Urban population growth rate (average annual %) (2010-2015): 4.7
Rural population growth rate (average annual %) (2010-2015): 1.8
Urban population (%) (2014): 34.5
Source