🇸🇿 Eswatini

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) is Africa's last absolute monarchy — King Mswati III rules this landlocked country of 1.2 million with a GDP of about $4.8 billion. The king has 15 wives and a personal fortune estimated at $200 million in one of the world's poorest countries. Eswatini has the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world at about 27% of adults. The country is almost entirely surrounded by South Africa, which dominates its trade and economy. The annual Reed Dance ceremony, where tens of thousands of young women dance for the king, is both a cultural tradition and a source of international controversy.

Sugar is the main export, along with soft drink concentrates (Coca-Cola has a major concentrate plant here), textiles, and wood pulp. South Africa accounts for about 60% of imports and 70% of exports. The country is part of the Southern African Customs Union and uses the lilangeni, pegged 1:1 to the South African rand. Youth unemployment exceeds 50%, and about 60% of the population lives below the poverty line.

Eswatini changed its name from Swaziland in 2018 partly because it was constantly confused with Switzerland. The country's Sibebe Rock is the world's largest exposed granite pluton — a single rock face larger than anything in Yosemite. Despite its small size, Eswatini has one of the highest biodiversity densities in Africa.

Eswatini's absolute monarchy model is increasingly untenable — pro-democracy protests in 2021 were met with lethal force. Without political reform, the economic and health crises will only deepen.