The main industry is food processing, especially of fish, palm oil, copra, palm kernels, shelled peanuts, and peanut oil. There is some textile and clothing manufacturing, automobile assembly, and the making of beer, rum, and soft drinks. Nuts and frozen fish are the country's top exports. The poor performance of the economy has led to a variety of social ills. Health conditions are among the worst in the world.
Illiteracy is extremely high.
Although Portugal had long claimed it, control over the colony was not achieved until 1915. Resistance to Portuguese rule erupted in 1961, and independence was won in 1974. Under a new constitution in 1984 the Council of State replaced the Revolutionary Council that had taken over the country four years earlier. The military coup was staged in protest against provisions of the 1980 constitution that promoted Cape Verde domination of its projected unification with Guinea-Bissau. The leader of the coup, Jo o Bernardo Vieira, became head of state.