The World Bank writes that “by 2027, per capita income in over a quarter of the region’s economies will not have even recovered to pre-pandemic levels” and warns that “raising incomes and reducing poverty will remain a difficult task.” Per capita income in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow by 1.6% between 2025 and 2027, down 0.4 percentage points from the January forecast, falling further behind the global average, according to the World Bank.
“This pace means that, in terms of living standards, the Sub-Saharan African region continues to fall behind other emerging markets and developing economies, excluding China and India,” reads the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report, released today in Washington.
In the document, economists note that the increase in per capita income — i.e., economic growth divided by each citizen — “will continue to be insufficient to significantly reduce extreme poverty in the region, which is home to the majority of the world’s poor.”
Highlighting the unequal distribution of individual wealth gains, the World Bank writes, according to Lusa, that “by 2027, per capita income in more than a quarter of the region’s economies will not have even returned to pre-pandemic levels” and warns that “raising incomes and reducing poverty will remain a tough challenge, as labor market pressures will intensify in the coming years” due to the large number of young people entering the workforce.
The influx of young people reaching working age is expected to grow rapidly over the next five years and nearly double between 2025 and 2050, representing the largest absolute increase of working-age population any region has ever recorded in just 25 years. The report warns that “without policies to boost growth and address traditional structural bottlenecks, it is unlikely that Sub-Saharan African economies will generate the necessary employment growth to keep up with this unprecedented expansion of the working-age population.”
Source: Forbes África Lusófona
