Venezuela: All you need to know about the crisis in seven charts.

Pedro_P

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▼ Growing discontent in Venezuela, fuelled by hyperinflation, power cuts and food and medicine shortages, has led to a political crisis.
Opposition leader Juan Guaidó has declared himself interim president following large protests, galvanising opponents of current socialist President Nicolás Maduro.
Some 26 people were reportedly killed in demonstrations last week and the UN has warned that the situation could spiral out of control.
More than three million Venezuelans have fled their country over recent years, blaming hunger, lack of medical care, rising unemployment and violent crime.
Here are seven charts that try to explain what's going on.
1. Inflation is ridiculous
The biggest problem facing Venezuelans in their day-to-day lives is hyperinflation.

According to a study by the opposition-controlled National Assembly, the annual inflation rate reached 1,300,000% in the 12 months to November 2018.
By the end of last year, prices were doubling every 19 days on average. This has left many Venezuelans struggling to afford basic items such as food and toiletries.
The number of bolivars - the national currency - needed to buy US$1 has also rocketed.

2. GDP is falling
Venezuela once boasted Latin America's richest economy - boosted by the biggest oil reserves on the planet.
But under former president Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013, and current President Maduro, corruption, mismanagement and high levels of debt have seen the country's economy collapse.

President Chávez took advantage of the oil boom in the 2000s to borrow heavily and government spending soared.
Then, during President Maduro's first term in office, the Venezuelan economy went into freefall.
Many blame him and his socialist government for worsening the country's decline.
President Maduro blames "imperialists" - the likes of the US and Europe - for waging "economic war" against Venezuela and imposing sanctionson many members of his government.
Plummeting oil prices in 2016 compounded the oil-dependant country's crisis.
3. People don't have enough food...
Venezuelans are going hungry.
Of those questioned for the country's annual living conditions survey (Encovi 2017), eight out of 10 said they were eating less because they did not have enough food at home.
Six out of 10 said they had gone to bed hungry because they did not have the money to buy food.

And this is taking its toll on the nation's health.
Most people (64.3%) said they had lost weight in 2017 - 11.4kg on average, with the poorest losing most.
Other key findings of the study included:
*.Traditional meals were decreasing in size and quality
*.Nine out of 10 people couldn't afford their daily food
*.8.2 million had two meals a day or fewer
*.Sources of iron, vitamins and other nutrients were lacking from people's diet
As a result, Venezuelans are turning to forgotten vegetables and foodstuffs that were once considered a "poor people's food".
The yuca - or cassava - root vegetable, for example, is versatile, cheap and a traditional substitute for potatoes.
It can be boiled or fried - which fast food chain McDonald's used to its advantage in 2015, changing their Venezuelan menu from potato fries to yuca fries.
4. ...they also don't have enough medicine
Venezuela has suffered a huge rise in the number of malaria cases in recent years - in stark contrast to neighbouring countries in Latin America, where numbers are falling.

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Manikant Kant

It is utter chaos..... oil boil coil......

Srinivas1939

A real tragedy.Years of misrule by pretender despots the populace of the country has faced untold suffering as depicted above.Time for meaningful intervention by the international community.Could the UN take the lead?