First up, from Quartz, March 20:
Citizens of Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, and Tunisia hit the streets over economic woes and political strife
Countries in the four cardinal points of Africa witnessed much tumult today (March 20).
Angry citizens of Kenya in the east, South Africa in the south, Nigeria in the west, and Tunisia in the north—with a combined population of 343 million— protested against the high cost of living, seeking constitutional reforms.
Led by opposition leaders, they took to the streets, calling out their respective president’s inaction to address economic and political hurdles bedevilling their countries.
Julius Malema, the leader of South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, led citizens in various cities to push for president Cyril Ramaphosa’s resignation following an endless cycle of economic crises facing the country.
South Africans are suffering...
....MUCH MORE
The threat to shut down South Africa ahead of tomorrow's holiday was thwarted by a massive display of police and military power.
And from Die Welt, March 20:
Africa's deepening unemployment crisis
Half of all young people in South Africa are unemployed while more than 1.2 million graduates are without jobs in Uganda. More own initiatives could ease unemployment in Africa, experts say
Steven Moyo gets up every day at 5 a.m. to look for work on the streets of South Africa's economic metropolis, Johannesburg.
He talks to drivers at intersections, offers his services. Moyo is an electrician. On good days, he earns a maximum of €30 (around $31.50). But those days are becoming fewer.
South Africa is in a deep recession, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The situation has gotten worse. No one is there to hire us," Moyo told DW. He said he does not know where he will be able to earn money for food and rent.
Stories like Moyo's are not uncommon in South Africa.
In Cape Town, Namhla Mcimbi told DW that she had to abandon her psychology studies because she could no longer pay the tuition fees.
Like many of her fellow students, Mcimbi has now fallen into unemployment....
....MUCH MORE
This is not new but the situation is not getting any better, in fact in the covid, post-covid era things are getting worse, faster.
Previously:
April 2020: "All The Jobs Are Gone" - Africa Facing 'Complete Economic Collapse' As Virus Spreads
Two months earlier: "Why Africa Has Found It So Difficult To Industrialize"
On the other hand the Wuhan coronavirus may be offering one last opportunity for Africa to become part of worldwide supply chains at a level other than that of the extractive industries.
And prior to the covid:
By now most of our readers have seen a version of the U.N. projections
for world population in 2050 and 2100. If not, here's a post from April
with the graphic:
IMF: Sub-Saharan Africa has Just Completed One of its Best Decades of Growth--It's Not Enough (UPDATED)
Update below.
Original post:
This may be one of the more important graphics you are likely to come across today.
Africa's population is projected by the United Nations to reach 2
billion people by 2045, 4 billion before the end of the century:
We followed up with "To Jumpstart Development, Should We Give Africa Bonds a Whirl?"
The problem, as always, is keeping the money from sticking to the hands of the kleptocrats,
And whether investment will actually do any good.
Following on "IMF: Sub-Saharan Africa has Just Completed One of its Best Decades of Growth--It's Not Enough" here are a couple women who have thought about this stuff, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala a former two-time Finance Minister of Nigeria and World Bank Managing Director, currently a senior advisor at Lazard and Nancy Birdsall, former EVP at the Inter-American Development Bank where she ran a $30 billion loan portfolio....
And today it's the population analysts at Populyst, September 28:
Africa: 800 Million Jobs Needed
African economies are in a race to get ahead of the demographic boom.....MORE
And if Europe is not swayed by altruistic and humanitarian considerations:
Up to 500 Million Sub-Saharan Africans Would Like to Move to Europe; Mayfair, Monte Carlo Favored
