Why africa is poor

General Assembly , it seems clear that ending extreme poverty by seems almost impossible at this point. However, it is important to note that the continent has turned the corner and poverty levels could come down substantially over the next decade.

Future Development. The Future Development blog informs and stimulates debate on key development issues. This blog was first launched in September by the World Bank and the Brookings Institution in an effort to hold governments more accountable to poor people and offer solutions to the most prominent development challenges.

Continuing this goal, Future Development was re-launched in January at brookings. For archived content, visit worldbank. Future Development The Future Development blog informs and stimulates debate on key development issues. Many people flee, are forcibly expelled from their homes and are dependent on outside help. Poverty in Africa is increasing as a result of these wars. The African continent has been suffering more and more from climate change in recent decades: devastating floods and extraordinary drought periods lead to crop failures.

The consequences are regular hunger crises and famine in Africa. Particularly affected are East Africa and the Sahel region. This includes: life expectancy at birth average school attendance period expected school attendance period as well per capita income As the indicators show, education is closely linked to poverty by the United Nations - because those who can not read and write have little chance of getting a skilled job and build their livelihood. In May, a report into resource flows in and out of Africa revealed that the continent loses more money each year than it receives in aid, investment and remittances.

According to Honest Accounts more than three times the amount Africa receives in aid was taken out mainly by multinational companies deliberately misreporting the value of their imports or exports to reduce tax. In the half-century since independence, while economies have grown and, in the broadest sense, governance has improved , democracy on the continent is still faltering.

The lack of transparency, accountability, safety and the rule of law; the often bloated public sectors and squeezed small businesses; patriarchy masquerading as religion and culture; high unemployment rates and, recently, jihadism destabilising the Sahel region — all these factors are keeping Africans poor.

But of course, that statement is a sweeping generalisation — the kind you have to make when writing about 54 countries in 1, words. That every day millions of internet users are seeking to understand a continent rather than a specific country or a region is itself telling. The second assumption is that there is something exceptional about Africa, that while other continents and peoples have got or are getting richer, Africans, for reasons we can think but no longer speak in polite company, choose to remain in poverty.

It also means we rarely rage as we should against the actions of the corporations and governments that profit from instability, corruption or even inexperience African negotiators at the climate talks have historically been disadvantaged by their lack of experience and the expectation among western negotiators that they should be grateful with whatever they get.