APA-Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) The number of people living in poverty across Africa has climbed to over 476 million, according to the 2024 Economic Report on Africa.
Launched by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) on Thursday on the margins of Africa Regional Forum on Sustainable Development (ARFSD), the report said amid the fragmented and conflict-prone world, Africa faces many economic, social, and environmental challenges that impeded the continent to attaining the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“Poverty, inequality and food insecurity have increased across the continent,” the report said, noting that Africa requires financing of about 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars through 2030 to reverse the gloomy situation.
It said the confluence of crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, 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.
The report further said a just and sustainable transition (JST) promoting accelerated, inclusive and sustainable growth, as well as diversification and green industrialization will help Africa tap into its potential.
According to the report, the number of African people vulnerable to poverty rose by 28 percent from 2019 to 2023.
The economic report urged African countries to establish holistic development plans and strategies that fundamentally redirect their production, consumption, governance, technology, human capital, and financial systems to improve the livelihood of their peoples.
Speaking at the launching ceremony of the economic report, Hanan Morsy, deputy 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 improve human well-being and the welfare of future generations by fulfilling basic needs, creating productive jobs and sustainable livelihoods, and establishing a healthy ecosystem.
Morsy said there is a window of opportunity for Africa to undertake an impactful, just and sustainable transition guided by an African-informed narrative.
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.
MG/as/APA
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