Mozambique, with almost 17.5 million inhabitants living in an area of approximately 801,590 km2, has the highest population of the former Portuguese African colonies. Its economy is based on agriculture. More than 70% of the population live in rural areas and work mainly in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Half of the population is aged between 6 and 24 and women are in the majority. Almost 80% of public investment is earmarked for the social sector (education, health and water supply), and for agriculture, transport and rural infrastructure.

Since 1987, the Mozambican Government has been implementing a structural adjustment and macro-economic stabilization programme aimed at stimulating economic growth and alleviating poverty in the country. The outcome of these policies has been a reduction in absolute poverty from about 69.4% in 1997 to 54.1% in 2003. Despite this improvement, poverty rates are still rather high, with notable differences between urban and rural areas. Indeed, while poverty stood at about 55.3% in rural areas, the figure for urban areas was around 51.5%. As shall be seen later, these levels of poverty are linked, inter alia, to population and education patterns.