Jan 16-31, 2019
The New Year brought some good news about poverty trends worldwide. According to the latest data from the World Poverty Clock (APC), the rate of global poverty has fallen from 37% in 1990 to approximately 10% now. That means, during the past quarter-century, more than 1 billion people have risen above the poverty line. But the vast majority of the people, who have moved above the poverty line are from China-,800 million – and to a lesser extent, from India- 200 million. Unfortunately, poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa shows no signs of abating. On the contrary, it is rising. The data brings out the shocking disparity between stagnation in Africa and great progress in many other parts of the world. APC ’s real-time poverty estimates for every country on the continent, are even more alarming: by 2023, Africa would account for 80 percent of the global poverty. What led to this predicament?
Lack of skills and job opportunities continue to be a drag. Agriculture remains the backbone of the economy and the transition to the industry is slow. Africa’s manufacturing sector employs only 9 percent of women and 16 percent of men. Most of the working poor are predominantly in the informal sector defined by low productivity and low incomes. People are shifting from low productivity agriculture to low productivity urban informal activities with little impact on rising incomes.
Africa has a widening inequality of income levels. When inequality is high, the economic growth does not percolate down. The richest 20 percent controls up to 60 percent of the wealth.
Africa is also witnessing rapid population growth. The APC reports that the economic growth recorded for the last 20 years has made a minimal impact due to the population growth. With an average 2.6 percent, population growth rate, annual per capita growth in the last quarter century comes in at just 1.1 percent. World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim has cautioned that the economies in Africa need to start growing higher than the birth rates if development goals are to be achieved.
When the Sustainable Development Goals was launched in 2016, Africa’s share of global poverty was around 60 percent. Today, it stands at over 70 percent. By 2030, it is expected to touch 90 percent. The writing on the wall is clear- that Africa has to put its house in order to keep pace with global efforts to end extreme poverty by 2030.
