At least 450 million people in Africa are projected to remain poor by 2030. Meanwhile, over 400 million Africans live below poverty line, according to a new report published by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Africa Secretariat.

The report indicated that eight of the 10 world’s poor will be living on the African continent by 2030. Meanwhile, out of this, nearly two-thirds are in rural areas where women continue to face unique adversities which leave them more vulnerable to shocks.

According to the report, seven out of the 10 most unequal economies are in Africa, with the top 10 percent accounting for more than 50 per cent of the national pre-tax income.

Furthermore, the report noted that unless the fundamental issues of African economies are solved, with structural modifications adopted leading to more job opportunities, the situation will remained unchanged.

“The situation is not poised to change unless active, structural changes are implemented. A total of 33 of the 36 countries that are in the low human development category are in Africa. Labour market exclusion is beyond unemployment nuance, with notable declining real wages over recent years, and in turn, nominal wages as exhibited by high levels of working poor remain low,” the report says.

More so, the report noted that social protection coverage remains low and the associated fiscal provisions continue to be limited and now have an even wider funding gap due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Ms Justine Lumumba Kasule, a SDG focal person in Uganda reacting to the report stated that a lot needs to be done to improve the situation across the continent of Africa. She urged governments in Africa to address the unemployment and service delivery gaps.

“It is unacceptable to have eight of ten Africans living from hand to mouth. Many African governments are convinced that nothing can better guarantee inclusive growth and employment for Africans than equitable participation of more of individuals in the money economy”.
Ms Lumumba

She however noted that, the situation can improve when more African countries in collaboration with the SDG Centre for Africa, establish a new and robust monitoring and reporting system which she hopes will enable countries on the continent report on more than 140 SDG indicators.

Moreover, the report observed household wealth, place of residence, and education as the main three dimensions related to inequality and factors that slow the attainment of health-related SDGs.

“Additionally, the recent achievements in African health outcomes can disguise remaining disparities in health outcomes for the most vulnerable, health output, and population coverage in terms of essential services.”

However, in a similar report – Poverty and Shared Prosperity report 2020, estimates show that the regional poverty rate decreased by 1.6 percentage points between 2015 and 2018. This translates to 40% of the population living below the US$1.90-a-day poverty line in 2018 and Sub-Saharan Africa accounting for two-thirds of the global extreme poor population.

“While the poverty rate has decreased from 56% in 1990 to 40% in 2018 the number of poor continues to rise. In other words, the poverty rate in Sub-Saharan Africa has not fallen fast enough to keep up with population growth in the region and 433 million Africans are estimated to live in extreme poverty in 2018, rising from 284 in 1990.”