Africa can reap “tremendous economic growth” if the right policies and actions are implemented parallel to the continent’s ever-expanding population, according to a new World Bank report.
The report, ‘Africa’s Demographic Transition: Dividend or Disaster? ‘, notes that the correct policies and actions can use population growth to transform a nation into a “healthy, educated, empowered labour force that can contribute to real and sustained economic growth that lifts people out of poverty”.
The report points out that by2060 there will be about 10 billion people in the world—5.2 billion in Asia, 2.8 billion in Africa, 1.3 billion in the Americas, 0.7 billion in Europe, and 0.1 billion in the rest of the world.
“The growth in Africa’s working-age population will be relentless and inevitable,” says World Bank Africa region acting chief economist Punam Chuhan-Pole. “The good news is that with the right policies and actions today, countries can accelerate the region’s transition to smaller families, healthier and better-educated youth, and an expanded job market if policymakers make the right decisions.”
