If 1. is one country where the term 'lost generation' 2. something, it's Madagascar. The 45% of its 14 million inhabitants who 3. under 15 will confirm that. 4. the time they were born, the economy of their island, in the Indian Ocean off the 5. of Mozambique, 6. steadily deteriorated. Between 1980 and 1995, per capita 7. shrank 8. an average 3% every year, 9. to UN figures. Half the infants below three 10. from retarded growth and one child 11. six dies before reaching the age of five. Education figures for the island are just 12. gloomy. Nearly three-quarters of all school children 13. to complete primary school. Today, 72% of the Malagasy live 14. less than a dollar a day, 15. the fact that their land has abundant agricultural and mineral 16. . The country's foreign 17. has reached $ 4.4 billion - 120% of gross domestic product. This disastrous economic situation is 18. to several decades of political turmoil and administrative disorder.