Madagascar
🇲🇬Republic of Madagascar
Madagascar defense profile covering crime, unrest, climate disasters, cyclone response, food insecurity, maritime exposure, and source limits.
| Demographics | |
| Population, Total | 31.96M persons (2024) |
| Population Growth Rate | 2.44% (2024) |
| Urban Population Ratio | 32.43% (2024) |
| Working Age Population | 57.34% (2024) |
| Literacy Rate | 74.69% (2021) |
| Tertiary Education Enrollment Rate | 6.15% (2023) |
| Life Expectancy | 63.63 years (2023) |
| Defense | |
| Military Expenditure | 121.63M current US$ (2024) |
| Military Expenditure Ratio | 0.71 % of GDP (2024) |
| Military | |
| Military Branches | Madagascar Armed Forces (aka Armed forces of the Republic of Madagascar); Malagasy Army, Naval Forces (or National Navy), Air Force; Malagasy National Gendarmerie (2025) text (2025) |
| Military Service Age | 18 years (2025) |
| Active Military Personnel | estimated 13,000 Armed Forces; estimated 10,000 Gendarmerie (2025) count (2025) |
| Military Equipment Overview | the military's inventory consists mostly of older or secondhand armaments originating from countries such as France, South Africa, the former Soviet Union, the UAE, the UK, and the US (2025) text (2025) |
| Conscription System | 18 text (2025) |
| Economy | |
| GDP (Nominal) | 17.42B current US$ (2024) |
| GDP (PPP) | 60.21B current international $ (2024) |
| GDP Per Capita | 544.99 current US$ (2024) |
| GDP Growth Rate | 4.20% (2024) |
| Inflation Rate | 9.87% (2023) |
| Foreign Reserves | 2.78B current US$ (2024) |
| Trade Balance | -1.47B current US$ (2024) |
| Industry | |
| Manufacturing Value Added | 2.20B current US$ (2024) |
| Industry GDP Ratio | 22.79 % of GDP (2024) |
| Manufacturing GDP Ratio | 12.65 % of GDP (2024) |
| Natural Resources | graphite, chromite, coal, bauxite, rare earth elements, salt, quartz, tar sands, semiprecious stones, mica, fish, hydropower text |
| Technology | |
| Patent Applications | 6 applications (2021) |
| High-Tech Exports | 7.91M current US$ (2024) |
| Internet Penetration | 20.37% (2023) |
| Infrastructure | |
| Air Transport Passengers | 313,313 passengers (2023) |
| Electricity Access | 39.40% (2023) |
| Logistics Performance Index | 2.3 index 1-5 (2022) |
| Total Area | 587,041 km² |
| Land Area | 581,540 km² |
| Water Area | 5,501 km² |
| Land Boundaries | 0 km |
| Coastline | 4,828 km |
| Railway Length | 836 km (2018) |
| Irrigated Land | 10,860 km² (2012) |
| Merchant Marine | 29 count (2023) |
| Electricity Capacity | 759,000 kW (2023) |
| Electricity - Fossil Fuel | 64.80% (2023) |
| Electricity - Hydroelectric | 31.10% (2023) |
| Electricity - Solar | 3.20% (2023) |
| Electricity Consumption | 2.51 kWh (2023) |
| Other Statistics | |
| Terrain | narrow coastal plain, high plateau and mountains in center text |
| Climate | tropical along coast, temperate inland, arid in south text |
| Natural Hazards | periodic cyclones; drought; and locust infestation volcanism: Madagascar's volcanoes have not erupted in recorded history text |
| Government Type | semi-presidential republic text |
| Capital | Antananarivo text |
| Legal System | civil law system based on the old French civil code and customary law in matters of marriage, family, and obligation text |
| Administrative Divisions | 6 text |
| Internet Country Code | .mg text |
Madagascar's island geography and weak infrastructure make disaster response and internal mobility central security issues.
Madagascar's size, poor road connectivity, and exposure to Indian Ocean weather systems make state reach difficult. Security planning must account for remote regions, maritime approaches, ports, and emergency logistics.
The country is best understood through resilience and public-order capacity rather than conventional interstate defense.
Crime and unrest remain important security concerns in a context of poverty and limited public services.
Travel and governance sources highlight crime, unrest, and political pressures. These problems affect policing, public demonstrations, local trust, and the ability of the state to manage emergencies.
A defense profile should include police capacity, civil unrest, and institutional legitimacy alongside maritime and disaster-response issues.
Food security is a national-security issue because climate shocks can overwhelm vulnerable communities.
Southern Madagascar is vulnerable to drought, while southeastern regions face cyclones and flooding. Food insecurity, damaged roads, and limited emergency access can quickly turn climate shocks into humanitarian crises.
Ports, fisheries, coastal communities, and humanitarian logistics shape the island's security environment.
Madagascar's maritime exposure affects fisheries, coastal trade, emergency relief, and law enforcement. After cyclones or floods, the ability to move food, medical support, and security personnel can matter as much as traditional military capability.
The island's defense profile is therefore closely tied to logistics and civil protection.
Madagascar's geography, infrastructure, and climate risk shape the state's reach across the island.
Madagascar is best understood as a governance-and-resilience case where geography defines state power. Limited transport networks, long distances, and climate shocks make it difficult for national institutions to project services evenly across the island.
The country's security challenges center on resilience rather than conventional conflict; public services, logistics, and emergency access are critical to national stability.
Madagascar's risks are strongly documented for climate and public safety, but less precise for local security-service performance.
Open sources clearly show vulnerability to cyclones, drought, food insecurity, crime, and unrest. They are less precise on regional policing capacity, illicit maritime activity, and the readiness of specific security units.
Madagascar is best characterized as a climate-security and resilience case rather than an active war profile.
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