Number of poor in Africa rises to 476 mln amid multiple crises

ADDIS ABABA, April 25 — The number of people living in poverty across Africa has climbed to more than 476 million, according to the Economic Report on Africa 2024.
Launched by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
(UNECA) on Wednesday on the sidelines of the 10th Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development, the report said that amid the fragmented and conflict-prone world, Africa faces many economic, <
social, and environmental challenges that impede the continent’s implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s 50-year continental development blueprint, Agenda 2063.
“Poverty, inequality, and food insecurity have increased across the continent,” the report said, noting that Africa needs about 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars in financing by 2030 to reverse the gloomy situation.
It said the confluence of crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, and climate-related disasters have reversed Africa’s social and economic development gains of the past decades.
“About one third of the continent’s population, which is 50 million more than in 2019, are estimated to be in poverty in 2024,” the report noted.
The continent needs to enhance its climate resilience and embark on a greener growth path to generate quality jobs and contribute to global efforts to combat climate change and preserve the biosphere, the economic report highlighted.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of the report, Hanan Morsy, <eputy executive secretary of UNECA, said the economic report, entitled “Investing in a Just and Sustainable Transition in Africa,” focuses on what a just and sustainable transition means for Africa.
She said the report’s recommendations will go a long way in contributing to improving human well-being and the welfare of future generations by fulfilling basic needs, creating productive jobs and sustainable livelihoods, and establishing a healthy ecosystem.
There is a window of opportunity for Africa to undertake an impactful, just, and sustainable transition guided by an African-informed narrative, Morsy said.
She said factors such as the continent’s youthful population, ample arable land, renewable resource endowments, huge deposits of strategic minerals, and late-comer advantages from emerging technologies position Africa to shape the sustainability transition at the global level.