Madagascar is a member of the United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie. Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. Christianity is the country's predominant religion, but a significant minority still practice traditional faiths. Madagascar is classified as a least developed country by the UN.[20] Ecotourism and agriculture, paired with greater investments in education, health and private enterprise, are key elements of its development strategy. Despite substantial economic growth since the early 2000s, income disparities have widened, and quality of life remains low for the majority of the population. Madagascar is experiencing an ongoing famine, which experts argue is the first to be caused entirely by climate change.[21]
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Madagaskar pertama kali ditinggali pada pertengahan abad pertama oleh [[orang Austronesia]],<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Mitchell|first=Peter|date=2020-10-01|title=Settling Madagascar: When Did People First Colonize the World's Largest Island?|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564894.2019.1582567|journal=The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology|language=en|volume=15|issue=4|pages=576–595|doi=10.1080/15564894.2019.1582567|s2cid=195555955|issn=1556-4894|access-date=6 December 2021|archive-date=6 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206020211/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15564894.2019.1582567|url-status=live}}</ref> lalu para migran [[suku bantu|bantu]] yang melintasi [[Selat Mozambik]] dari [[Afrika Timur]] menetap bersama sekitar abad kesembilan Masehi.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Pierron|first1=Denis|last2=Razafindrazaka|first2=Harilanto|last3=Pagani|first3=Luca|last4=Ricaut|first4=François-Xavier|last5=Antao|first5=Tiago|last6=Capredon|first6=Mélanie|last7=Sambo|first7=Clément|last8=Radimilahy|first8=Chantal|last9=Rakotoarisoa|first9=Jean-Aimé|last10=Blench|first10=Roger M.|last11=Letellier|first11=Thierry|date=21 January 2014|title=Genome-wide evidence of Austronesian–Bantu admixture and cultural reversion in a hunter-gatherer group of Madagascar|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|language=en|volume=111|issue=3|pages=936–941|doi=10.1073/pnas.1321860111|issn=0027-8424|pmc=3903192|pmid=24395773|bibcode=2014PNAS..111..936P|doi-access=free}}</ref> kelompok suku lain terus menetap di Madagaskar dari waktu ke waktu, masing-masing suku yang ada [[asimilasi|berasimilasi]] membentuk kebudayaan Malagasi. Kelompok etnis Malagasi sering dibagi menjadi 18 subkelompok atau lebih, yang terbesar adalah [[Merina]].
Madagaskar adalah anggota dari [[Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa]] (PBB), [[Uni Afrika]] (UA), [[Komunitas Pembangunan Afrika Selatan]] (KPAU), dan [[Organisation internasionale de la Francophonie]]. Bahasa amalagasi dan [[bahasa Prancis]] adalah bahasa resmi di Madagaskar. [[Kristen]] adalah agama mayoritas di negara tersebut, namun ada sebagian kecil yang memeluk [[Agama Tradisional|kepercayaan tradisional]].
[[Bahasa Malagasy]] adalah bahasa yang serumpun dalam [[bahasa Barito]] dan memiliki hubungan erat dengan [[bahasa Dayak Barito]], seperti [[bahasa Dusun Deyah]] dan [[bahasa Maanyan]] serta bahasa Banjar. Ini terlihat dari banyaknya persamaan kata dasar dalam bahasa-bahasa dayak tersebut dengan bahasa Malagasi, selain itu Malagasi juga mencakup banyak kata pinjaman Melayu,<ref>{{Citation|last=Blench|first=Roger|title=Remapping the Austronesian expansion|pages=8|date=2009|url=http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Austronesian/General/Blench%20Ross%20Festschrift%20paper%20revised.pdf}}. In {{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Bethwyn |title=Discovering History Through Language: Papers in Honour of Malcolm Ross |year=2009 |publisher=Pacific Linguistics |isbn=9780858836051}}</ref>
