The GEM Report and the UNESCO Institute of Statistics estimate that 244 million children and youth were out of school worldwide in 2021, with sub-Saharan Africa having the highest share. In 2023, UNESCO reports that 250 million children are not attending school, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and Afghanistan. Learning achievement levels among children who are out of school are almost certainly far lower, with an estimated 10 million children in Africa dropping out each.
Africa has the youngest population of any continent, with three out of five people under the age of 25, and half of its population between 3 and 24 years old. A new UNESCO report reveals that children in Africa are five times less likely to learn the basics than their peers elsewhere. Progress towards SDG 4 is still slow in many African countries, with 98 million children out of school and 15 million teachers missing to achieve SDG 4.
Over 100 million children remain outside the formal education system in Africa, with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization reporting that approximately 42 million children of primary and secondary school age are not enrolled in school. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of education exclusion, with over one-fifth of children between the ages of about 6 and 11 out of school. Despite progress over the last decade, 67 million children worldwide, of whom approximately 53 are girls, do not have access to basic education currently.
UNESCO reports that 244 million children are out of school, but some counties are trying to improve the situation. With the right opportunities, this young and fast-growing population can be a powerful force for change.
📹 Why Development in Africa Is So Difficult| Big Think
Pamela Cantor, M.D. practiced child psychiatry for nearly two decades, specializing in trauma. She founded Turnaround for …
How many students don’t go to school in Africa?
In 2019, 34 million primary education-aged children in Africa were not enrolled in school, a decrease from 45 million in 2000. However, the number of adolescents and young people not enrolled at the secondary level increased, with 30 million out-of-school children in lower secondary education and 41 million in upper secondary education. Access to all Premium Statistics requires a paid Statista Account, which includes immediate access to all statistics, source references, and downloads in various formats.
Why are so many children not being educated in Nigeria?
The prevalence of out-of-school children (OOSC) in low- and middle-income countries such as Nigeria is shaped by a multitude of interrelated factors, including early/child marriage, economic constraints, conflict, socio-cultural norms, and the absence of inclusive school policies and practices.
How many children are not educated in South Africa?
The 2022 Census data indicate a notable rise in the proportion of South Africans between the ages of 5 and 24 who are not engaged in any form of academic or vocational education or training (VET) since 1996.
Which African country is the most educated?
Seychelles, the smallest and least populated country in Africa, is the most educated country in the region. With a literacy rate of 95. 9 as of 2023, the government spends approximately 10% of its budget on education. However, about 4, 000 people in the country are not able to read or write. The country ranks among the 54 countries with quality education, with 38 ranking this year. The five countries with the best education system in Africa are listed below, highlighting the importance of proper education in a small, populated country like Seychelles.
How many children do not have access to education in Nigeria?
Despite the fact that it is officially free and compulsory, approximately 10. Approximately five million children in Nigeria are not enrolled in school.
How many girls in Africa don’t go to school?
International Women’s Day celebrates progress in securing basic education for girls in the poorest countries, but it also highlights the millions of girls left behind. In Africa, 28 million girls aged 6-15 are not in school and many will never even enter a classroom. Violent extremists are destroying the lives of school girls, their families, and communities, while poverty forces girls to sacrifice their right to education for a better life.
Education has a multiplier effect, as more educated women tend to be healthier, earn more income, have fewer children, and provide better health care and education to their own children, lifting households out of poverty.
What is the literacy rate in Africa?
In the year 2022, the number of individuals who were able to read and write was 67. Four in ten individuals aged 15 and above in Africa demonstrated proficiency in reading and writing a simple statement, with Southern Africa exhibiting the highest literacy rate at 80 percent. The account is subject to an annual contract, which is subject to renewal at the end of the initial year at the regular list price. It should be noted that the listed prices do not include the applicable sales tax.
What country has the most out of school children?
UNICEF has identified Liberia as the country with the highest proportion of out-of-school children, with nearly two-thirds of primary-aged children not accessing school. South Sudan follows with 59% of children missing out on their right to primary education, with one in three schools closed due to conflict. Afghanistan, Sudan, Niger, and Nigeria also fall in the top ten, highlighting the impact of humanitarian emergencies and protracted crises on children’s access to education.
What country has the lowest literacy rate?
The state of literacy worldwide is improving, with 86 of people over 15 years being literate. However, Burkina Faso, Niger, and South Sudan have the lowest literacy rates. In 1820, only 12 of people could read and write, but by 2016, only 14 of them remained illiterate. Over the last 65 years, the global literacy rate has increased by 4 every 5 years. Young women’s literacy rate is lower than that of young men, especially in poorer countries. The global illiterate population of young girls is 61.
9 percent. In nearly all countries, youth have higher literacy rates than the older generation. Improved literacy in early-industrialized countries has reduced intra-country inequality. Literacy empowers women to take control of their lives and fosters personal autonomy, creativity, and critical thinking skills, which boost economies and global communities.
How many Africans go to university?
The current gross tertiary education enrollment ratio is 9. 4, which is markedly inferior to the global average of 38.
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I’m a Nigerian (West African). Honestly my nation & continent is corrupt(both people & leaders) the brain drain of smartest people going out of Africa, disunity of African Union, poor people having many kids & worst of all we manufacture less & import more. Please Non-Africans encourage the small good we Africans do. It can go a long way 🙏❤️
The problem of Africa is and will still be the people that reside in Africa. -Africans that are not eager to learn, or find a way to change their mindset, -Africans that spend their whole life criticizing politicians thinking that development happens in one day, -Africans that still cry about colonization or what the white man is doing while a lot of countries moved on since decades. Why can’t we focus on ourselves? We really need to be disciplined first no matter which way we will arrive to that.
I’m going to say this now and keep on saying it until we get it through our thick heads as Africans, particularly darker skinned Africans. Besides Europeans coming to the African continent and further setting darker skinned Africans back, Africans have no one but ourselves to blame for our position in the respective countries we predominantly populate due to corruption, the lack of care we have for each other as far as our development is concerned infrastructure and intellectual development. I made an observation about our people globally and how our environments are very similar in appearance around the world. We need to stop blaming white people and other groups of people for our position and stand up and do something about it. The most embarrassing thing we can do as a people that look like us is constantly hold our hands out for people to help us solve our own or problems. Of the Human species we have the smallest brain sizes but we don’t seem to utilize our brains as efficiently as we should. I know I’m going to get cursed out by my people because I every time I point out shit like this and say it’s our own fault and we should have fought harder to protect our continent and our peoples, we always deflect and blame someone else and I’m about tired of it.
I’m in South Africa, the problem is laziness, entitlement, corruption, greed and a complete and utter lack of any sense of: urgency, responsibilty, accountability, pride or introspection. Basically, “someone else will do it” or, “its not my job”, and of course the perennial, “it’s apartheid’s fault”.
1 word: taxes. Im in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia right now. In the part of the city that I’m staying now, I notice most goods are sold through street vendors that set up tents and want to haggle over the price. Most of which don’t pay taxes. They take up so much space but bring no income to the state. Therefore, the state, has no money to build or even maintain the infrastructure. So the governments are reaching out to China to help them fund (loans) and build the infrastructures for them.
Many, many parts of the world have been under colonialism. Yet only africa is like africa. Development in africa is difficult because subsaharan africa is filled with low IQ, high time preference, impulsive people. They never even invented the wheel. This is because of the environment they live in and how it affected their biological evolution. They never had to engage in such collective behavior which demanded they survive harsh winters and farm livestock and grow crops.
The One thing that differentiates rich countries from poor countries is education. How could you educate a people using other languages other than their mother language. Imagine if USA used Chinese as their education language do you think they will achieve the success they achieved, do you think they will have brilliants entrepreneurs that create big companies and provide jobs for peoples, do you think have brilliant doctors, engineers, lawyers….etc.. Same problem in Africa almost all countries in Africa use their colonizer language in education because of the multi ethnic problem of which every one demand to use their language as education for example in Nigeria there’s 300 languages Ethiopia more than 80 language. Sorry for my English because it is not my primary mother language and we use French in my country Djibouti for education instead of Somali because afar won’t like it and same for us also we won’t allow afar. We can’t also develop all languages because of the money it needs of which stupid corrupt leader are stealing it.
As a South African, the biggest problem Africa faces is lack of education. The basics like understanding 24 hour time or even just straight lines in basics like brick laying just aren’t there in a lot of people from various countries. This is the fault of the governments who honestly don’t care about the people. Also In 1947 it was headline news when Johannesburg had a 35 minute power interruption. Currently we have 3 x 2 hour interruptions EVERY DAY. It’s called load shedding 😤 Imagine this in a first world country!
Corruption diverts foreign aid and donated money to ruler’s Swiss bank accounts, foreign real estate. With that being said, Africa is big. It has countries with varied level of economic development. Some countries are rising like Ethopia, some are still in poverty like Congo and South Sudan. You can’t just categorize it as a whole.
When a dynastic dictatorship of six decades in Africa that represents ruin, violence, misery to people in Africa has the mean to export its terror, its violence in some European countries where where everything you have achieved is ruined in the name of the tyranny in Africa and deprivation is deployed to make sure you don’t move forwards, this gives you an idea of why development in Africa is so difficult. I am an African from Togo.
I’m assuming he’s speaking of sub-Saharan Africa, although I’m not sure that the states bordering the Mediterranean are that much better. Every revolution in Africa has proposed to do exactly what this journalist proposes be done (i.e., put the power back into the hands of the people) in order to garner support, but then every regime has subsequently indulged in horrendous corruption, as well as significant levels of violence in order to remain in power when that support evaporated (and please correct me if I’m wrong, as I’d like to know the exception to this pattern). So…if past is prologue, and if we’re not engaging in the textbook definition of insanity, why should any reasonable person expect that things might soon be different? Have Africans experienced some sort of epiphany which might allow them to make better decisions from now on? Have they abandoned the lingering passivity which leads them to put a strongman in power, rather than support democratic institutions? Or is something else going on? Are Africans going to renounce violence any time soon? Pardon me if I don’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen…
This might be controversial. Is africas lack of development linked to black peoples lack of development as a race? Every continent has prospered since ww2 except africa. Im not convinced black people are wealth generators. White, oriental and asian (india, pakistan) seem to know how to get wealthy at an individual and therefore national level
My friend’s son recently left to spend 2 years in Senegal with the Peace Corp. Before leaving he had to complete an apparently quite intensive week of “orientation”. The week starts with a welcome talk and a brief overview. Some Peace Corp higher up gave the talk. The third “paragraph” of his talk started with the sentence “Much of Africa is a highly fecalized environment”. He went on to describe how the way they take a shit over there, you just go where ever you want or is most convenient. On the sidewalk? if you want. in the streets, in the woods, off the side of the bridge into the river below.Apparently that’s how it’s always been done, to the dawn of time. So, the trainees were told to always carry at least a small cloth to cover their nose and mouth any time the dry wind of the hottest months blows, kicking up cloud of dust from the streets and the land. they were told if a sample of that dust were tested, it would be as much microscopic shit particles as it was clay. And the speaker warned the trainees the most serious way possible. Do not drink the water. Do not bath with the water. do not launder or clean dishes or cutlery with the water. Do not step in puddles, do not go swimming or wading. In fact, if you walk past water, do so at the greatest possible distance. He said the water there was so contaminated with all sorts of hideous parasites that the PC goes to great lengths at great expense to ship water from the USA or Europe to the regional PC facilities for the use of PC employees.
Before the colonialist came, Africans were happy and they lived in organized societies with rich culture. We didn’t ask for the white man’s help. Now look at what has happened :unprecedented pollution, civil wars, wanton destruction of forests all in pursuit of an elusive dream of riches that comes with deep emptiness of heart. Let us just go back to what we used to do connecting with the land and mimicking nature in our agriculture practice. We don’t want the rat race. We as Africans have a great sense of community. Let us go back to our values and peaceful coexistence. We are tired of the western narrative of success
The short write-up from PAMELA CANTOR sums the origins of African developmental failure (the children cognitive capacity is often not well developed). Africans have this historical negative attitude towards children and women. Children and women have no say in African culture, both are often abused through neglect and brutality. The children are often too many in a family unit and they suffer both malnutrition and low parental care, this issue is seen in the large number of out of school children in Nigeria. Additionally, Africans continuously brought up their children with vague understanding of the real world dynamics, by infusing them with superstitious beliefs. We also have huge inferiority complex, we only see foreigners as more capable e.g. Europeans and Asians. There is this disrespect for education among “traditional” African people, education through innovation and independence in research is often frown upon. People in Africa hardly bother about their environment in terms of urban and regional planning, simple hygiene etc. There are so many community issues but I mentioned just a few. There’s so much to say concerning the style of leadership in Africa, but this platform will not be enough, so I will only mention the innate weakness of the system of leadership. In Africa, people still have this Alpha male admiration, consequently leaders often have a free reign (disrespect for the copied white man constitution) on the natural resources (material resources) and Human Resources.
I speak as a person from Botswana. We have universal free education and health care, ranked high on corruption index and a great country to invest in. When we increased our currency and was the same as the a second world country, it was forcibly reduced by Britain with fear of its affects on trade… Politics is the problem.
History teaches us all time and again, that blacks have never built and will never build a Civilization worth anything, but they sure can bring down any. Even the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Mayans built something that can still be seen by tourists. Plus, they worked in gold, silver, emeralds, made jewelry and colorful clothing made from wool from the Llamas including the well-known Ponchos. The Armies of the modern world still use Ponchos. I’m still waiting for a Refutation or a Disprove to the above, but with solid FACTS please not just some DUMB ghetto argument ’bout some short lived Mali empire centuries ago of which there is nothing left of value or worth.
Instead of continuing to blame the continent’s troubles on colonial borders, why don’t the affected countries negotiate new borders that fix those border issues? Either fix that or quit using it as an excuse to blame outsiders for internal problems. But then, no politician ever admits that they are the problem. They have done nothing to deal with the problems.
Colonization did not separate communities. It brought together rival tribes. Only Africa has a language for every tribe. And only in Africa will different tribes never makes peace. And in Africa politics are the ultimate goal. If I can become president, than everything belongs to me. Just as the tribal leader owned all the land.
“Concerning the trade on this Coast, we notified your Highness that nowadays the natives no longer occupy themselves with the search for gold, but rather make war on each other in order to furnish slaves… The Gold Coast has changed into a complete Slave Coast.” – William De La Palma Director, Dutch West India Company Sep. 5, 1705
The reason why Africa is underdeveloped is because Black people chose to copy and live by European standards. That’s not your culture and before you catch up with the Western world, they’ll already be far ahead. Africa was supposed to be rural anf left rural. Urban living causes conflicts. Resources (money mainly) isn’t enough for everybody.
GEOGRAPHY is the biggest factor. Africa’s GEOGRAPHY prevents economic advancement. Very poor river systems for transportation of goods. Most are too shallow, full of waterfalls, and rapids. Very few areas for ports to allow big ships to dock. Africa’s layout and position on Earth is very poor for economic growth. It’s longer North to South than East to West and sits in the center which gives Africa many climate zones which dictate many different cultures, cultures who don’t trust one another. No reliable pack animals for farming or transportation of goods. Terrain that isn’t conducive to trains. And many more natural factors that is NO Man’s fault.
At the end he offers a hopeful diagnosis that rich Africans will start investing in Africa and transform the political and business landscape… This article is from 2012, and things have inarguably gotten worse (coup in Burkina Faso only this year, constant instability in central Africa, Nigerian politics might be even worse). It’s not totally fair to ask rich Africans to deplete their wealth by having them invest in countries where the government can steal it at a moment’s notice. The few dozen truly rich African businessmen would just as likely wind up broke, and current dictators wind up a little richer. …The system is so entrenched towards corruption and dysfunction, that to truly “fix it,” you would have to have an outside behemoth like the United States come in and deliberately, forcefully commit military and economic resources to reform the various corrupt governments and autocracies. The U.S. will probably NEVER do that, and the only big country that seems truly interested in Africa is China, where they are doing the exact opposite of what America did in Iraq and tried to do in Afghanistan: stripping democracies, empowering the worst dictators, enabling genocide or the worst human rights violations, and stealing the resources as part of a Colonialism 2.0
Most African nations are young, and we are figuring things out albeit influence from other nations. Give it 40 yrs from now, if there is no world war, we shall be in a different place. Besides the western society is no heaven, behind all those sky scrapers and nice roads there are homeless people, people who drive luxury cars with a lot of debt in their life. Basically a lot of people in the western world are poor, they just don’t know it because it has been normalized to owe money. Majority even rent. At least here in Africa we dont owe money like loans etc
I like how nobody brings up the middle east. The same thing happen to them after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and they haven’t bounced back fully and are still “developing”. People are so quick to bring up eastern Europe and Germany and Japan when it isn’t applicable in the same way middle east and Africa was carved by the European. You tell me, is the middle eastern countries first world and have the gone past shia/sunni and kurdish/turkish/iraqi/syrian differences that they have?
Africans did not evolve and develop as we did in Europe. Look at our scientific & artistic achievements. A measure of development is being able to build a two storey building which was not found in Africa. This man is deluded trying to blame colonial government! Look at basic African art compared to that of the Renaissance. Ha! both Spain & Italy have as hot a climate as Africa but look at what they achieved. Reference should also be made to the might of the Spanish empire. The Indian don’t grumble about colonialism as they accept it brought both good & bad & they get in with running a successful economy. They were culturally developed before we Europeans as was China.
I disagree, the main problem is that African entrepreneurs do not have access to capital markets. Despite that, Africa is developing, it already has the world’s fastest growing economies. Enterprise is the main driver of development, entrepreneurs need funding but no one likes to fund African entrepreneurs? Nobody. You might want to say Africans don’t have collateral security, but they absolutely do, each and every African has claim to a piece of land passed on down the line for generations, but banks won’t accept this even though it’s good enough. What makes this problem worse is because Africans don’t own banks.
Why Development in Africa Is So Difficult: #1: Political leaders working primarily for the interest of their countries are overthrown and/or assassinated by former colonial countries of Europe or by the USA. PLENTY examples of this case: Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Ruben Um Nyobé, Mouamar Khadafi… Don’t take my words for it and look up Jacques Foccart to hear it from the horse’s mouth, he’s one of the main men responsible for these coup d’états. Imagine if Napoléon was killed before he had the chance to stabilize France, it would’ve been a mess and maybe still would be. Well, men like Sankara did a great job at initiating the development of their countries and had significant results before they were “stopped” in their enterprise. #2: Countries that were colonized by France are really still controlled by it therefore can’t impulse a positive change for their people as it goes against the interest of France. The interest of Western countries is to sell to Africa and buy for really cheap. That’s why France still controls it’s ancient colonies currency, the franc CFA (literally the franc of French Colonies of Africa) and it’s value so they can devalue it at will and keep getting everything they need in Africa for cheap. Which leaves no chance for these countries to be financially empowered and compete economically. Countries that have their own currency do way better and are actually developing (Nigeria, Ghana…) #3: People in power in these countries still controlled externally are “allowed” to be in power as long as they work for the Western world.
You people have no insight at all in the African problem. Tribalism and development do not go together. Find a way to around the tribal issue and Africa will leapfrog all continents. The colonialists particularly the British knew this and used it well by setting one tribe against another to this day. You want examples, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa and many more.
TO ME It is because of resource and population not matching…africa is not equally resourced relative to others …we spend our life time to fillfull our needs and most of us do not satisfay economically….we urgently focus on food than any else….no time and money left for research,science and investigation…plus we reproduce and increase population fast because we have more children thinking they will help us later since we blindly reason future will be better…THIS MAKES THE SITUATION WORSE AND WORSE..plus because of geography .,africa was isolated for long time (had poor connectivity with outside world).. WHAT A DARKNESS TO BE BORN HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the immediate postcolonial period, African countries had a period of rapid economic growth in some cases as high as 10%. As a consequence of the Opec oil crisis which resulted in massive amounts of new money entering commercial banks in the global North, these banks began to extend massive loans to countries in Latin America and Africa. In the 80s Mexico became the first country to default on its loans and soon many others followed which resulted in the American and European governments bailing out their banks and the American controlled IMF and World Bank forcing new restructuring of these economies in order to allow them to pay back their debts. Unfortunately this meant a shift into an export focused economy… What the gentleman talked about as extraction of wealth. Due to the fact that there were dozens of countries now with this export focused economy and many of them were basically selling the same thing, the prices fell and a vicious cycle began because now since these economies are unfocused on actual development but still just paying back debt, and prices for their exports remain low, Africa doesn’t have much of a chance. I mean obviously there are still internal factors explaining why Africa is facing problems of development but western neocolonialism is a pretty big fucking hurdle wouldn’t you agree
Just to elevate the quality of this comment section, I think rather than being racist and accuse black people of being dumb think more about the actual access of education in Africa. More importantly the difference in the perceived value of education in Africa and for example in China. People are “dumb”, because they’re ignorant to education or they don’t have access to it. And if people can prepare for IQ tests and get much better results guess what defines intelligence… It’s the fucking education and seeing the need for it. So I think it’s more of a mindset and cultural problem rather than a racial one. I bet you wouldn’t know nor do better if you were born there as a poor black guy with “white” brain… It just doesn’t make any differences. Brains are over the races the same. Research it if you don’t believe me. Anyway some reflective thinking wouldn’t hurt you guys. The world can’t be seen all in black and white in all matters.
what if today africa unites? Can powerful countries just let them be? i think no, they can’t, because for economical and political reasons, africa should be poor and undeveloped, otherwise europe or china or usa or russia could not use them. they starts to corrupt unity inside and will make so many civil wars, and they’re doing some right now too, for just keeping the whole continent poor and undeveloped. that’s why third world countries never reaches to first world’s
As a North African citizen (Algeria) we are governed by a group of military kernels that are supported by Europe, because Europe doesn’t want Africa to use it’s own resources for its own development, and if a revolution happens or try to hapen, you see all those “Democracy lover” countries, giving full support to the military regime to perpetuate a dictaturship that is ruling the country serving them instead of their own people, a double standard indeed . As some writer said before “tell me who brought the president I will tell you who will he serve”
How can any government provide clean water, education, health care and jobs to all their citizens when they persist multiplying at the rate that they do. On average Africans have a fertility of 4 or more children per woman. Where would China be without its one child policy? China got rich without migrants and by keeping its fertility down. Japan got rich without migrants, but with lots of western political interference.
China is going to eventually pay for everything they’re doing in Africa. Storms coming. They don’t realize the west did the same thing w roads, infrastructure etc but eventually it crumbles. Africans had a chance to absorb the knowledge that was brought in. Hope this time it’s better but hell if I’d be investing the way they are.
‘Why Development in Africa Is So Difficult’ Develop in order to develop. In other words, if the one or ones who want to develop haven’t developed themselves how can they develop something? Development of being by the understanding that it is in morality that the facility of principles, in other words, the reason finds its full expression and that the civility of human lies in the being, in other words, in behaviors. The desperate souls are likely the ones who transform the blessings into curses. And it is also about the Spirit that drives the being. In every certainty the Spirit of God flourishes anything it touches. If you seek God’s glory instead of your own glory the development in Africa will be very easy. Because God’s thought creating the worlds is a mercy and an overabundance. God in his mercy has provided Africa with everything for its development. You say you are Christians, you say you know God and you have been into Africa to be slavers and after that episode, you come back as colonists and after that you come as makers of tyrannies. You have stolen even art works to furnish your own museums and after having done all these you forgot your own history and are now asking ”Why Development in Africa Is So Difficult’ If we were you, our legacies in that Africa will be a mercy, a glory to God.
The colonialists care nothing for Africa for her own sake. They are attracted by African riches and their actions are guided by the desire to preserve their interests in Africa against the wishes of the African people. For the colonialists all means are good if they help them to possess these riches. (PATRICE LUMUMBA )
African nations have had independence for longer than most nations in central Europe. In a shorter time period central Europe has adapted to modern economics while many places in Africa stagnated or even slid backwards. Remember when Bono got African nations to have their debt forgiven? I do. I also read recently that many of the same nations are in a similar position or even worse presently. I also remember reading how even in the imperialist days the French debated whether keeping their colonies were worth it since they had to pay more to maintain than it actually brought in in profit.
Africa’s biggest problem it not itself but how the western nations treat them e.g. their economics. By subsidizing many goods and shipping those overproducitons they make essential goods cheaper to import then to produce locally. And because the local politicians have no way to change this situation without the will of the west, they started to act like the colonialists earlier. Western Nations just send Billions of Dollars to africa just to pay them to keep a realtive stability to be able to keep the “trade” going. They have learnd, if they just do nothing long enough some humanitarian agency will come knocking and fullfill the need for a road or school or hospital. And now a new colonialist in disguise is slowly buying off the rest of the continents ressources, so africas will have no choice but to leave their homestead and come knocking on the door that has been responisble for the downfall in the first place. A revolution will only brutally be oppressed, I do not think that is a viable solution. Maybe when half of the continent come knocking, the leaders might be willing to take a more serious look into this matter, if its not already too late then.
Africa is a such a big country that no one size fits all solution will work. The Onion News Network has been arguing this for years now. They need to build on the recent developments in mud and buckets and strengthen their stick market. Africa can stand on its own feet once they get a proper domestic stick market, and they can branch out from there.
To those asking why much of Africa today has development issues? The economics of many African countries were hurt by those African leaders who chosed the Soviet style Socialist model for development. I once heard an economics commentator say by following that Soviet model it set African economies back a 100 years. You need some type of mixed economy combined with a flexible political system in order for real development to happen.
The concept of “Africa” is a Western construct used by Westerners to classify and simplify a diverse continent of people into one idea. In the consciousness of the people who live on this continent there is no “Africa”. There are tens of thousands of different nations, ethnic groups, and tribal identities. All of which speak thousands of different languages and dialects. But the Idea that Africa exists as a unifying ideal or that anyone on that continent sees themselves as “African” is just not reality. This will never change. Africans are a tribal people, anything above that is beyond their comprehension. That alone should tell you why Africa cannot develop. How can you manage a people who do not see themselves as one people. They turn on each other on a dime. They constantly war with each other. They have far too much infighting, and are stuck in an endless cycle of fighting, conflict, revenge, counter revenge, genocide, and counter genocide. Development and modernization requires long term peace. How can you have peace when there are so many diverse cultures and tribes who constantly war with each other over so many grudges that have built up over the centuries? It is simply not possible. The West says diversity is a strength and they sell this idea to Africa. Diversity is Africa’s problem. There are too many divergent ideologies, ethnicities, and tribal differences, as a result the continent will always be dysfunctional.
Spain, Italy and many other European countries were not unified and had different languages. True it will take time. We were nationalistic. Here in Malawi I see it as a skinny cow fhat everyone wants to milk but nobody feeds. There’s a scramble for Africa, and it’s done by the rich class. Nobody is looking to ruch Africans to help, but looking to white people to help.
Just like it can be difficult to human being to develop when every of his attempts to improve his life is monitored in order to trigger the mechanism of deprivation that hinders his fulfillment in every aspect of his life, this experience allows to glimpse the reasons why Africa, despite the potentials hasn’t been developed. The direction printed on the energies depends on the characters. The characters can be constructive in this case they develop. The characters can be destructive, in this case they hinder development.
I believe that African nations need to redefine borders asap. Once that’s done they need outside help. No nation in the last 2000+ years of human history has started with no help. South Korea got major economic help from the US and allies, Australia was made with huge amounts of British help, the US was made with UK help and the UK was made by roman help. If western countries actually decide to help these African nations they can be built and made first world in less than 30 years. All South Africa needs is more manufacturing, Botswana needs more internet infrastructure, Namibia needs more infostructure, Zimbabwe needs to be taught how to make food more efficiently and so on and so forth. The biggest problems are the fact that there are different ethnic minorities, there are too many people, countries are too isolated and there is no infrastructure. If African nations are willing (this is extremely unlikely) to bring back European colonisation they could develop extremely quickly and learn from European nations quickly. Imagine if say Canada, Australia and the UK decide to develop Commonwealth African nations. They could be fully built in 30 years easily.
There is a fundemental flaw to this guys theory. And that is assuming that development was made difficult as a result of colonialism. The fact is Africa was a ‘shithole’ before whites settled and he does not mention that. And it would be more accurate to compare the progress of Africa currently to a pre colonized Africa, rather than comparing Africa with Western civilization that has had a more advanced society and culture for a lot longer period of time
Even before colonization, when the Europeans came to Africa for the very first time, they came to our shores with muskets and advanced weapons, as well as linen and fine cotton. Africans on the other hand had just sticks and arrows to defend themselves and wore mostly furs and hides. That alone speak volumes about Africa’s ability to evolve and grow. Forget exploitation and colonization… what were our forefathers doing during the industrial revolution? Where were our forefathers when mathematics and the laws of physics was discovered??? If the Europeans came and saw an advanced society like theirs, perhaps colonization wouldn’t have taken place to begin with. THESE ARE MY THOUGHTS
I totally wouldn’t say that colonization was a positive thing for Africa…but this journalist definitely seems to be doing little but serving as an apologist for England when he says that African “nations” were “doing well” before Europeans came and “sucked all of the wealth out” of Africa. For one, Africa, just before being colonized, could scarcely be called a unified place. It was divided into a million separate tribes with loyalties often only to one’s own family. Apart from a few examples with the Mali and Zulu, it was largely the Europeans who popularized the idea of nationhood in Africa. Second, the speaker fails to ask the question “Why were Europeans able to colonize Africa in the first place”? An area that can be colonized isn’t “doing well.” That doesn’t meant that only Europe was doing well. Japan was never colonized because they weren’t divided. China, while taken advantage of, wasn’t colonized at one of the weakest points in the nation’s history. Africa wasn’t doing well by any standard. One only have to look at the fact that Africa people’s weakened themselves by capturing other Africans and selling them to Arab and European slave traders. And third, the idea that Europeans did nothing but “suck wealth” out of Africa is completely ignorant of history and economics. Colonies almost always created net losses for the economies of Europe. Men and material had to be shipped to the colony, set up, security provided…and then after your mining operation was setup it was probably destroyed in a local rebellion.
“have to pay colonial debt to France. African leaders who refuse are killed or victim of coup. Those who obey are supported and rewarded by France with lavish lifestyle while their people endure extreme poverty, and desperation. It’s such an evil system even denounced by the European Union, but France is not ready to move from that colonial system which puts about 500 billions dollars from Africa to its treasury year in year out.”
Correction, the Kenyan dude who campaigned on a bicycle was elected, he is now in the government. We know our problems more than you think you know Sir. Please listen to Ernesto Sirolli`s “Shut up and Listen” or Dambisa Moyo`s “Dead Aid”. Better Yet, Ask Rwandan President Paul Kagame what’s best for Africa.
the man riding a bicycle in Kenya was actually elected…..he is currently serving in the country as a member of parliament..get your facts right…..as much as Kenya or any other African country is divided between tribal lines so are European countries with black and white conflicts happening every day.
Here’s my theory. The human race originated from Africa. So it makes sense that Africa has the most suitable environment for humans. Outside of Africa, where the climate/vegetation wasn’t favorable for humans, humans had to evolve into being more creative at problem-solving. So they evolved to be smarter and more organized as people. That’s why most societies outside of Africa are so “civilized.” However, with globalization and the modernization of Africa, it won’t be long until natural and artificial selection cause Africans to evolve into smarter and more organized people. The advent of smart/organized Africans is inevitable, but we might have to give it some more time.
Africa will always be doomed. Geography and the vast number of tribes that don’t trust one another. Africa has poor river systems for transportation of goods. Africa doesn’t have a lot of tall straight trees needed for construction. Africa has many climate zones that further divide the people. etc. etc.
The reason the nations on the continent Africa are struggling to develop is because their peoples have very little sense of identity. Colonizers may have come and gone, but the borders / ‘new countrys’ they created did not. These new borders were based on nothing practical, and had no regard for the existing tribes and culture; instead they were forged entirety with European interest in mind, carving up the continent strategically.
Africa is developing….what are you trying to say….however we must understand what is viable for Africa…the idea of Africa industrializing in the conventional sense is out of question…do you think the rest of the world will just let Africa industrialize…no….it will not be good for their markets.
This is all PROPAGANDA! Its organized and planned by The World Bank, The IMf, and The Multinational Conglomerates. The West needs Africa to be poor so that they can extract the Raw Materials. AFRICA NEEDS RAPID AND AGGRESSIVE INDUSTRIALIZATION AND FOOD SECURITY. IT CAN BE DONE IN 10 YEARS. THAT WHOLE IDEA ABOUT IT’LL TAKE GENERATIONS IS NONSENSE.
Ok, that sounded like a politically correct reason from an obvious politically correct journalist as to why development in Africa is so difficult. Anyone know the real reason without sugarcoating it? I ask because I am not dumb. I do know that the world has given Africa billions of dollars over many decades, yet their countries seem to remain what Trump described them as. Sorry, but what other description can I give them? I even heard black people from South Africa here on Youtube admit that they were BETTER OFF ECONOMICALLY DURING APARTHEID, THAN AFTER IT ENDED UNDER MANDELA. When Trevor Noah was asked if this was true, he DID NOT DENY IT. My jaw dropped a bit on that one. And why is it that the world’s most deadly diseases originate here and kill the most people here? Why? Why south Saharan Africa? Why is AIDS prevalent here among heterosexual men but no where else in the world? Why? I’m being serious here and I’d like some good and honest explanations for learning purposes. It amazes me that this continent is still struggling this way after all of the help it has been given over the decades.
It’s interesting because the countries in africa that are Arab ruled does not have the tremendous amount of poverty as the Black ruled countries. The root is political greed. Nigeria is one of the richest in oil, the richest black woman and man live in nigeria, yet they still don’t have proper power grid or sewer system or clean water mains. Why is this? Hmmm? POLITICAL GREED, that’s why
Europe had different tribes, which were conquered by the likes of the Romans, etc. They managed to work together and even fought for each other in ww2. I understand it takes time but that’s not an excuse. Your 2nd point is true about leaders not investing in their own countries and making deals with outsiders to get money. Our leaders still live in the past and still fight for power without giving solutions to poverty. Most get elected, apply to other countries for aid, and then claim to have fed their people. We are one big charity case. Blacks hate blacks(US too) and like to act like, “we all in this together”. So-called “ubuntu”. So fake! Or they cast aside some amongst themselves because they are smart, talk English, not “street/hood”, or some stupid thing that has nothing to do with our futures. Agh! It annoys like shxt when other races have to feel pity. I stopped supporting anything that is, “black….”. They all have nothing to do with black people!
Any development takes time, human development among varying societies has taken ages, the pace over the last 100 years has been phenomenal…by 1900 the continent was about 200 years behind Europe, 200 years ago America was behind Europe….Its not corruption (the west is generally as corrupt despite the lectures)…its time. Let’s have this discussion in 2070
Do we really think we have independent is the question? what are the name of the petrol station in Nigeria? who own the refinary? imagine Nigeria with no petrol to run the economy? thats where the control is . Dont let them gas u up with this narative. we are still under control covertly and france control french speaking country overtly . they dont control the people they control the resources that drive the economy in my opinion. he who controls the economy controls u. and they gave the rest of the nigeria govt 6% oil blocks.what happen to the 94%? .
The answer of ‘people not voting for the ordinary man’ and ‘business and politics’ makes me want to ask another question. What mindset, or cultural, or socioeconomic reasons means that the people of Africa don’t vote for the ‘right’ person?. Of course, dictatorships and wars make it hard to be democratic, but what occurred in the first place to let these rulers gain power?
Africans already had enough internal issues. They lacked unity and always think of individualistic growth. Christian or Buddist ideologies would have helped them better to unite by helping each other and spreading love. Jews never include anyone else. Unfortunately Islam spread in these African countries and Islam has by no ways helped Africans to improve unity and spread love bringing harmony in society. I am not talking about Hinduism as there is no missionary missions for it. At least communism would have helped Africans better than Islam. They need to give up Islam ideas and take up an ideology of peace love and harmony in order to be prosperous.
Nothing logical and concrete in this analysis. So Korea was colonized by Japan so Korea’s fate is poverty? Ethiopia was never fully colonized so it must be the most developed country in Africa surely? Big Think will be us a favour by removing this pointless and illogical rant of a article. So lack of good governance and a culture of equality in front of the law and so forth have nothing to do with under development in Africa?
WRONG! Is hard because we are still under the neo colonialism of the conceptual western countries. We got all the resources to develop our countries, but once we got leaders who could have stood up back in the 60’s after independencies, the all got assassinated eg Thomas Sankara, Patrice Lumumba, Nkurumah etc. Western countries put their puppet leaders who are still working in the interest of the colonizers till today. We were almost doing right in Libya, and we all know what happened. If Africans wants to develop, have to get rid of IMF, World Bank, most of the foreign direct investments etc And most importantly getting rid of Capitalism
Colonization, african colonial stooges, a lack of identity still caused by a colinized mindset. Once we get our own identity, innovate our own solutions for our problems and finally get independent leaders who are not stooges of the corrupt west/east, that when Africa will be a super power on the world stage!
A very good example of people who were politically independent and economically performing well is the Tuareg people. They controlled the caravan trade routes in the Sahara for thousands of years and imposed taxes on these caravans. However, when the French colonial troops arrived in the Sahara in the 19th century everything changed for the Tuareg. After a great resistance, they lost their political independence and became under French colonial administration. Then, after independence their historical territory was divided between five new countries. As a result of that, they are now poor and margenlaized politically, economically and culturally.
its cultural,the cultures focus is on partying dressing well being famous or having status of stupid things like insta fame etc. it has also a lot to do with the majority of the country being under 40yrs so they are the ones setting the tone,in the end its nations literally ruled by 15 yr old morons its the same in latin america where even 40yr old men behave like kids getting drunk partying all the time taking 0 responsability
I’m sure about the border problem I’m somali and the somali that are about 25 million much less back in the 60s was divided in to 5 British Italian and French and when they wher leaving they gave some of our land to kenya and and big part to Ethiopia they thought we hade to much land for a small population one tribe in Ethiopia is 3 times more than us they said to day we have Djibouti wich was French somalia wich was Italian and somaliland wich was British protectorate but somaliland is not reconised we hade war with somalia because of the border we hade war with Ethiopia because of the land and borders created by the British somalia has problems with kenya over the border
First of all I am not negative . But if now africa grows i.e it’s start developing and take powers back, will European countries happy with it . And yes on this china has heavily invested in Africa, and China is also like west who come and exploits people, china use debt and trap policies which will be very dangerous for africa
Africa is poor because of european colonization. Well half truth Why Africa was conquered by the euros and not the other way around? Why Africa was way less technologically advanced than Europe? Euros only made the continent already poor, way poorer. The truth is even if they(africans) have a reason to complain about europeans that aint solving anything. I mean thank God Germany or Japan didn’t do that after ww2. It’s all about mindset.
I find it curious how all these PC an supposed experts struggle to COME UP WITH all types of explanations to make sense of how utterly difficult it is to have any type of social progress inAny African country when the socioeconomic systems are left to their own accord. None of it really explains it… Not saying that poverty or history has no bearing on the poor results in Africa to create a modern and sustainable society but these people see everything except for the elephant in the room… IQ… Why is it so hard to understand? If this was excepted then people could work on finding solutions instead of excuses and potentially make a success story out of many African countries.. The whole story of elites and business being the cause of many problems in Africa does not explain anything because there are countless examples of this in other nations and continents yet they thrive anyway… China, NAZI Germany, USSR, India.. As messed up as they where/are in many other ways, goverment/business collusion never affected economic/scientific advancement much and in some cases stimulated it.. So no.. It is NOT a good argument if you juxtapose African corruption to corruption in other nations..
You have no idea….its good the west remain in the dark!! Stay where you are seated…you will be shocked in the near future. Actuation Africa doesn’t need European investment,its clear Europe is struggling economies and the extinction of its whiteness…the west,you don’t know how much we have lost interest and love to have any relation with you. China is Africa’s great partner for now,and we wish this to last for a million years.
I am sorry to correct you are not a linguistic specialist on african languages. Nigeria has less than 12 languages. What you call languages are just dialects of those 12 languages and a dialect is just an accent or a deformation of a phonetic. Should we call a specific region accent a language ? . Birminghan accent is not a language, scottish accent is not a language.Go back to school to learn .Just like arab language has over 40 dialects we still say they speak arab. China has over 230 languages with 2 official languages .This contradict the case you are trying to build using Africa as exemple .Needless to say about the numerous spoken languages and dialects in India.
When Ghana gained their independence in 1957, the first country to gained their independence, ( except Ethiopia, never colonised and Egypt) and South Korea had about the same per capita wealth. Fast forward to today, South Korea is one of the most advanced industrial and richest countries in the world with many high tech companies. However Ghana has not moved one inch. Still relies on cocoa production and bauxite mining. Many people still live in mud and grass huts where jungle justice is rife. Still a very underdeveloped poor country. It proves that sub Saharan people are incapable turning their countries into modern first world industrial countries.
…i shall say the obvious… or the aspects that some folk are not wanting to address…. for years i have called various civil servants – or politicians whatever…. not marionettes… yet headless chickens……. headless chickens that run around… – wheresoever he or a she is directed….. to a resource hither…… to a resource thither…. and by jolly widdershins fortune.. each had best make sure that the union laws and conditions are not favourable to any form of personage….. liberty seeking personage…. or such…. so resources….. Resources are what some are after… – yet never fear.. in the event a personage attempts to play a card like a race card… or say ohhhh we’re sooo hard done by .. bullshit. I know whereof i speak…. when attempted sovereigns or feudal attempted planks tryed to administrative goverenance Europe.. there was no civic functioning for any personage or said citizen… none…. none…. other than trying to get a job in very trying conditions and not as many opportunities as there are in contemporary times….so technically in the event a person looks with acuity and a mature eye…. what the religious wars were about or being motivated by… is attempting to gain a civic functioning…. an selection in a belief system,…. protestant or cath9olic whatsoever… – they didnt give a shit….. each fancied an civic functioning… for a liberty like a simile to being a citizen perhaps…… so…. in the event you can digest that accurately faster than a decade.
So what your saying is that nigeria should be split into 400 states? Africa would be less developed if it wasnt colonized. Imagine lets say the congo. So if it wasnt colonised it would be developed, a modern country with highways linking up the region and an effective health system. Bullshit and you know it. Stable stated would not form in central africa and it would be even worse than it is today.
I think rather than the lack of development In Africa is rooted first of all in the colonialism system and secondly in the selfishness of western societies… Typically the western have put in place financial systems to accompagne the colonial system to maintain africains economies underdeveloped (WB, IMF). Regarding the firs raison the example of france shows the evidence will of this country to maintain their former colonies under an unjustified pressure…Refering on the oldest ever agreement france still base it’s growing strategy on the exploitation of the natural wealth of those colonized countries… The economic strategy of france is rooted in this exploitation…
My oppinion about Africa is that they choose tradition over change, Evolution, technology. They, themselves are doing this. Now I saw a documentary where when two marry, the whole village gathers there to have sex with the bride to strenghten the broom’s connection with other men if this happens. By perusal this, I can imagine they are “too edgy to rely on technology” so I Guess they value the men power in order to solve everything despite a machinegun would wipe half the village. I see their perspective, but technology will triumph over their Best warriors, especially If You make some dishonorable Mercs fight them. Honor is not even an option now în war. So, I don’t think the Africa has put everything into their calculus when they choose the old way.