POOR CONDITIONS OF LIVING IN AFRICA: Poverty in Africa is the lack of provision to satisfy the basic human needs of certain people in Africa. 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. UNDP.org (2009). In 2006, 34 of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed countries were in Africa. UN.org (2011).
In many nations, GDP per capita is less than US$5200 per year, with the vast majority of the population living on much less (according to World Bank data, by 2016 the island nation of Seychelles was the only African country with a GDP per capita above US$10,000 per year. (World Bank 9 January, 2018).
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.
In 2011, Over $500 billion U.S. dollar were sent to African nations in the form of direct aid. African reform effort (2011). The consensus is that the money has had little long-term effect on African economy. Robinson A. et al (14 January, 2019). This due to mismanagement of the fund.
However, a large percentage of the money was either invested in weapons 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 by Africa is approximately $321 billion (U.S.) in 1996 represents only the interest portion on the debt, and far exceeds the amounts that were actually borrowed.
Authors Leonce Ndikumana and James K. Boyce estimate that from 1970 to 2008, capital flight from 33 sub-Saharan countries totaled $700 billion. (Reuter 15 March 2012). 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.
A 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.
For example, the Akosombo Dam was built to supply electricity for the extraction of aluminum from bauxite. Unfortunately, Ghanaian ores turned out to be too low grade and the electricity is now used to process ores from other nations.
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 prioritize family relationships over national identity, so people in authority often use nepotism and bribery for the benefit of their extended family group at the expense of their nations. For example, the Congolese president Mobutu Sese Seko became notorious for corruption, nepotism, and the embezzlement of between US$4 billion and $15 billion during his reign. Independent online (2 November 2018).
Despite this, corrupt governments often do better than authoritarian ones that replace them. For example, under Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, corruption was rife and poverty rampant. After his overthrow, corruption was lessened, but 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 dissent and capital flight. 90% of people in Africa live in informal housing, and often lack basic needs such as sanitation, clean water and food security. Poor living conditions affect entire communities, as crowded living spaces, dirty water, lack of hygiene and food insecurity contribute to disease transmission.
