African Development Bank (ADB) President Akinwumi Adesina gestures as he addresses a press conference in Ahmedabad on May 20, 2017, ahead of the ADB Annual General Meeting.
The African Development Bank will hold its 52nd Annual General Meeting in the western Indian state of Gujarat from May 22-26, the first time the event has been held in India. Some 4500 delegates including Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors from the organisations 54 member countries and 26 non-member countries are expected to attend. AFP
Africans are seeing a steady improvement in the quality of their lives, with some countries even nearing world averages, says a wide-ranging report out聽Monday聽on the continent鈥檚 future.
While large portions of the continent鈥檚 1.2 billion people live in poverty, many of Africa鈥檚 54 nations have made significant progress in health, education and standard of living.
鈥淎t least a third of African countries have now achieved medium to high levels of human development,鈥� said the report published by the African Development Bank, referring to a composite measure of a nation鈥檚 condition.
鈥淣orth Africa has the highest levels, approaching the world average, but all sub-regions have seen steady improvement鈥� since the turn of the 21st century, it added.
Despite the advances, some 544 million Africans still live in poverty, according to the report titled 鈥淎frican Economic Outlook 2017鈥�.
Rwanda recorded the most progress, followed by Ghana and Liberia in the fight against poverty since 2005.聽One of Rwanda鈥檚 key efforts was a community-based health insurance system that by 2010 had covered nearly 9聽in 10 of its people.
At the same time, north African nations Egypt and Tunisia have health insurance systems that cover 78 percent and 100 percent respectively of their residents.
Spending on education, which is considered key for development, is above six percent of gross domestic product in South Africa, Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique and Tunisia. While Nigeria puts less than one percent of its GDP into schooling.
According to World Bank figures, European Union nations spent an average of 4.9 percent of their GDP on education in 2013.
鈥楶otential for prosperity鈥櫬�
In central Africa, where school completion rates for girls are the lowest on the continent, the gap with boys is increasingly narrowing. Nearly three times as many girls finished secondary education in 2014 than a decade prior.
Gender equality is on the rise in several nations 鈥� including Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda 鈥� where women 鈥渁chieve almost equal levels of human development as men,鈥� the report said.
While there are bright spots in Africa鈥檚 move toward better income, education and health, serious challenges remain in the fight against poverty.
One of the main ones is the lack of access to cooking fuel, electricity and sanitation. The needs may not come as a surprise given some 645 million people in sub-saharan Africa live without electricity.
The future is also not very bright for many of the continent鈥檚 young people, nearly half of whom are unemployed. One of the key problems is that many receive an education that does not give them marketable skills.
鈥淭he greatest contributor to economic growth is not physical infrastructure, but brainpower, what I refer to as 鈥榞rey matter infrastructure鈥欌�� Stunted children today leads to stunted economies聽tomorrow,鈥� African Development Bank President Akinwumi Ayodeji Adesina said in 2016.
The report sees reasons to be hopeful for the economy this year, predicting a 3.4 percent expansion after weak 2.2 percent growth in 2016.
However, the future rebound assumes that 鈥渢he recovery in commodity prices is sustained, the world economy is strengthened and domestic macroeconomic reforms are entrenched,鈥� the report said.
East Africa remains the continent鈥檚 economic powerhouse, driven in large part by Ethiopia. Overall, Africa remains the second most dynamic region in the world behind developing nations in Asia.
The continent鈥檚 middle class, which the report estimates at 350 million people, 鈥渞epresents a vast source of potential for prosperity.鈥�