Poverty in Africa refers to the lack of basic human needs faced
by certain people in African society. African nations typically fall toward the
bottom of any list measuring small size economic activity, such as income per
capita or GDP per capita,
despite a wealth of natural resources. In 2009, 22 of 24 nations identified as
having "Low Human Development" on the United Nations' (UN) Human
Development Index were in Sub-Saharan
Africa.[1] In 2006, 34
of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed countries are in Africa.[2] In many
nations, GDP per capita is less than US$5200 per year, with the vast majority
of the population living on much less. In addition, Africa's share of income
has been consistently dropping over the past century by any measure. In 1820,
the average European worker earned about three times what the average African
did. Now, the average European earns twenty times what the average African
does.[3] Although GDP
per capita incomes in Africa have also been steadily growing, measures are
still far better in other parts of the world.
Mismanagement of land
Despite large amounts of arable land south of
the Sahara
Desert, small, individual land holdings are rare. In many nations,
land is subject to tribal ownership and in others, most of the land is often in
the hands of descendants of European settlers of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. For example, according to a 2005 IRIN report, about 82% of the
arable land in South Africa is owned by those of European descent.[4] Many nations
lack a system of freehold landowning. In others, the laws prevent people from
disadvantaged groups from owning land at all. Although often these laws are
ignored, and land sales to disadvantaged groups occur, legal title to the land
is not assured. As such, rural Africans rarely have clear title to their own
land, and have to survive as farm laborers. Unused land is plentiful, but is
often private property. Most African nations have very poor land registration
systems, making squatting and
landtheft common occurrences. This makes it difficult to get a mortgage or
similar loan, as ownership of the property often cannot be established to the
satisfaction of financiers.[5]
This system often gives an advantage to one native
African group over another, and is not just Europeans over Africans. For
example, it was hoped that land reform in Zimbabwewould transfer land
from European land owners to family farmers. Instead, it simply substituted
native Africans with ties to the government for Europeans, leaving much of the
population disadvantaged.[5] Because of
this abuse, foreign aid that was destined for land purchases was withdrawn.
(See Land
reform in Zimbabwe)
It is estimated that a family of four can be made
self-sufficient for about $300 (U.S.) – the cost of an Ox, a few hectares of land, and
starter seeds .Historically, such programs have been few and far
between, with much foreign aid being concentrated on the raising of cash crops
and large plantations rather than family farms.[6]
There is no consensus on what the optimal strategy for
land use in Africa may be. Studies by the National Academy of Sciences have
suggested great promise in relying on native crops as a means to improving
Africa's food security. A report by Future Harvest suggests that traditionally
used forage plants show the same promise.[7] Supporting a
different viewpoint is an article appearing in AgBioForum which
suggests that smallhold farmers benefited substantially by planting a genetically
modified variety of maize.[8] In a similar
vein is an article discussing the use of nontraditional crops for export
published as part of the proceedings of a Purdue University symposium.[9]
Misused money
Over $500 billion (U.S.) has been sent to African nations
in the form of direct aid.[10][11] The
consensus is that the money has had little long term effect.
In addition, most African nations have owed substantial
sums of money. However, a large percentage of the money was either invested in
weapons (money that was spent back in developed nations, and provided little or
no benefit to the native population) or was directly misappropriated by corrupt
governments. As such, many newly democratic nations in
Africa are saddled with debt run up by totalitarian regimes.
Large debts usually result in little being spent on social services, such
as education, pensions, or medical care. In addition,
most of the debt currently owed (approximately $321 billion (U.S.) in 1996[12]) represents only
the interest portion on the debt, and far exceeds the amounts that were
actually borrowed (although this is true of large debts in developed nations as
well). Most African nations are pushing for debt relief, as they are effectively
unable to maintain payments on debt without extending the debt payments
indefinitely. However, most plans to forgive debt affect only the smallest
nations, and large debtor nations, like Nigeria, are often excluded from such
plans.
What large sums of money that are in Africa are often
used to develop mega-projects when the need is for smaller scale projects. For
example, Ghana was the richest
country in Africa when it obtained independence. However, a few years later, it
had no foreign
reserves of any consequence. The money was spent on large
projects that turned out to be a waste of resources:
·
The Akosombo Dam was built
to supply electricity for
the extraction of aluminium from bauxite. Unfortunately,
Ghanaian ores turned out to be
too low grade and the electricity is now used to process ores from other
nations.
·
A
two-lane paved highway was
built into the interior. Unfortunately, Ghana has few motor vehicles that require
such a superior roadway, and there are very few other roads of any kind in the
country.
·
Storage silos for the
storage of cocoa were
built to allow Ghana to take advantage of fluctuations in the commodity prices.
Unfortunately, unprocessed cocoa does not react well to even short-term storage
and the silos now sit empty.
Another example of misspent money is the Aswan High Dam. The dam was
supposed to have modernized Egypt and Sudan immediately. Instead, the block of
the natural flow of the Nile River meant
that the Nile's natural supply of nitrate fertilizer and organic
material was blocked. Now, about one-third of the dam's electric output goes
directly into fertilizer production for what was previously the most fertile
area on the planet. Moreover, the dam is silting up and may cease to serve any
useful purpose within the next few centuries. In addition, the Mediterranean Sea is
slowly becoming more saline as
the Nile River previously
provided it with most of its new fresh water influx.
Corruption is
also a major problem in the region, although it is certainly not universal or
limited to Africa. Many native groups in Africa believe family relationships
are more important than national identity, and people in authority often
use nepotism and bribery for the
benefit of their extended family group at the expense of their nations. To be
fair, many corrupt governments often do better than authoritarian ones that
replace them. Ethiopia is a good case study. Under Haile Selassie, corruption
was rife and poverty rampant. However, after his overthrow, corruption was
lessened, but then famine and military aggressiveness came to the fore. In any
event, corruption both diverts aid money and foreign investment (which is
usually sent to offshore
banks outside of Africa), and puts a heavy burden on native
populations forced to pay bribes to get basic government services.
In the end, foreign aid may not even be helpful in the
long run to many African nations. It often encourages them not to tax internal
economic activities of multinational corporations within their borders to
attract foreign
investment. In addition, most African nations have at least some
wealthy nationals, and foreign aid often allows them to avoid paying more than
negligible taxes. As such, wealth
redistribution and capital controls are
often seen as a more appropriate way for African nations to stabilize funding
for their government budgets and smooth out the boom and bust cycles that can
often arise in a developing economy. However, this sort of strategy often leads
to internal political
dissentand capital
flight.
Human resources
Widespread availability of cheap labor has often
perpetuated policies that encourage inefficient agricultural and
industrial practices, leaving Africa further impoverished. For example,
author P.J.
O'Rourke noted on his trip to Tanzania for his
book Eat the Rich that gravel was produced with manual
labor (by pounding rocks with tools), where in almost everywhere else in the
world machines did the same work far more cheaply and efficiently. He used
Tanzania as an example of a nation with superb natural resources that
nevertheless was among the poorest nations in the world.
Education is
also a major problem, even in the wealthier nations. Illiteracy rates are
high although a good proportion of Africans speak at least two languages and a
number speak three (generally their native language, a neighbouring or trade
language, and a European language). Higher education is almost unheard of,
although certain universities in Egyptand South Africa have excellent
reputations. However, some African nations have a paucity of persons with
university degrees, and advanced degrees are rare in most areas. As such, the
continent, for the most part, lacks scientists, engineers and even teachers.
The seeming parody of aid workers attempting to teach trilingual people English is not
entirely untrue
South Africa under apartheid is an excellent example of
how an adverse situation can further degrade. The largely black population
earlier wished to learn English (black South Africans saw it as a way to unite
themselves as they speak several different native languages).
Disease
The greatest mortality in Africa arises from preventable
water-borne diseases, which affect infants and young children greater than any
other group. The principal cause of these diseases is the regional water crisis, or lack of
safe drinking
water primarily stemming from mixing sewage and drinking water supplies.
Much attention has been given to the prevalence of AIDS in Africa. 3,000 Africans die each
day of AIDS and an additional 11,000 are infected. Less than one percent are
actually treated. However, even with the widespread prevalence of AIDS (where
infection rates can approach 30% among the sexually active population), and
fatal infections such as the Ebola virus, other diseases
are far more problematic. In fact, the situation with AIDS is improving in some
nations as infection rates drop, and deaths from Ebola are rare. On the other
hand, diseases once common but now almost unknown in most of the industrialized
world, like malaria, tuberculosis, tapeworm and dysentery often claim
far more victims, particularly among the young. Polio has made a comeback recently due to
misinformation spread by anti-American Islamic groups in Nigeria. Diseases native to
Africa, such as sleeping
sickness, also resist attempts at elimination too.
Lack of infrastructure
Clean potable water is rare
in most of Africa (even those parts outside the sub-Saharan region) despite the
fact that the continent is crossed by several major rivers and contains some of
the largest freshwater lakes in the world. However, many of the major
population centres are coastal,
and few major cities have adequate sewage treatment systems.
Although boiling water is a possibility, fuel for boiling is scarce as well.
The problem is worst in Africa's rapidly growing cities, such as Cairo, Lagos and Kinshasa.
Colonialism concentrated
on joining the coast with internal territories. As such, nearly none of
Africa's roads and railways connect
with each other in any meaningful way. Joining Africa's extensive railway
network has recently become a priority for African nations outside of southwest
Africa, which has an integrated network. Transportation between neighbouring
coastal settlements is nearly always by sea, no matter the topography of the
land in between them. Even basic services like telecommunications are often
treated the same way. For example, phone calls between Ghana and
neighbouring Côte
d'Ivoire once had to be routed through Britain and France. Although Africa had numerous
pre-European overland trade routes, few are suitable for modern transport such
as trucks or railways, especially when they cross old European colonial
borders.
Conflict
Despite other hot spots for war, Africa consistently
remains among the top places for ongoing conflicts, consisting of both long
standing civil wars (e.g. Somalia)
and conflicts between countries (e.g. Ethiopia and Eritrea's border wars after
the latter's independence from the former). Despite a lack of basic social
services or even the basic necessities of life, military forces are
often well-financed and well-equipped.
As a result, Africa is full of refugees, who are often
deliberately displaced by military forces during a conflict, rather than just
having fled from war torn areas. Although many refugees emigrate to open
countries such as Germany, Canada, and the United States, the ones who
do emigrate are often the most educated and skilled. The remainder often become
a burden on neighbouring African nations that, while peaceful, are generally
unable to deal with the logistical problems refugees pose.
Civil war usually has the result of totally shutting down
all government services. However, any conflict generally disrupts what trade or
economy there is. Sierra
Leone, which depends on diamonds for much of
its economic activity, not only faces disruption in production (which reduces
the supply), but a thriving black market in conflict diamonds, which
drives down the price for what diamonds are produced.
Climate Change
The link between climate change and poverty has been
examined.[13] Climate
change is likely to increase the size, frequency and unpredictability of
natural hazards. However, there is nothing natural about the transformation of
natural hazards into disasters. The severity of a disaster's impact is
dependent on existing levels of vulnerability, extent of exposure to disaster
event and nature of hazard.[13] A
communities' risk to disaster is dynamic and will change over space and time.
It is heavily influenced by the interplay between economic, socio-cultural and
demographic factors, as well as skewed development, such as rapid and unplanned
urbanisation.[13]
The level of poverty is a key determinant of disaster
risk. Poverty increases propensity and severity of disasters and reduces
peoples' capacity to recover and reconstruct.[13]However,
vulnerability is not just shaped to poverty, but linked to wider social,
political and institutional factors, that govern entitlements and capabilities.
Effects of poverty
Africa's economic malaise is self-perpetuating, as it
engenders more of the disease, warfare, misgovernment, and corruption that
created it in the first place. Other effects of poverty have similar
consequences. The most direct consequence of low GDP is Africa's low standard
of living and quality of life. Except for
a wealthy elite and the more prosperous peoples of South Africa and the
Maghreb, Africans have very few consumer goods. Quality of life does not
correlate exactly with a nation's wealth. Angola, for instance, reaps large sums
annually from its diamond mines, but after years of civil war, conditions there
remain poor. Radios, televisions,
and automobiles are rare
luxuries. Most Africans are on the far side of the digital divide and are
cut off from communications technology and the Internet, however use of
mobile phones has been growing dramatically in recent years with 65% of
Africans having access to a mobile phone as of 2011.[14] Quality of
life and human development are also low. African nations dominate the lower
reaches of the UN Human
Development Index. Infant mortality is
high, while life
expectancy, literacy,
and education are all low.
The UN also lowers the ranking of African states because the continent sees
greater inequality than any other region. The best educated often choose to
leave the continent for the West or the Persian Gulf to seek a
better life; in the case of some nations like South Africa, many Caucasians
have fled due to employment bias.
Catastrophes cause deadly periods of great shortages. The
most damaging are the famines that
have regularly hit the continent, especially the Horn of Africa. These have
been caused by disruptions due to warfare, years of drought, and plagues
of locusts.
An average African faced annual inflation of over 60%
from 1990 until 2002 in those few countries that account for inflation. At the
high end, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo both saw triple-digit
inflation throughout the period. Most African nations saw inflation of
approximately 10% per year.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_Africa
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