Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is estimated at 2.5 percent for 2018, down from 2.6 percent in 2017. Although expected to rebound to 2.9 percent in 2019, growth remains insufficient to reduce poverty significantly. Although the poverty rate declined from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015, population growth at 2.6 percent per year has offset these gains, resulting in 130 million more poor people.
Volatility in the global environment—trade tensions, protectionism, and recovering but uncertain commodity prices—continues to have a negative impact on African economies. Holding back growth within the region are macroeconomic instability, including poorly managed debt, inflation, and deficits; political and regulatory uncertainty; and conflict and fragility. For example, fragility in a few countries is costing the region nearly a half a percentage point of growth per year, or 2.6 percentage points over five years.
World Bank assistance
The World Bank approved $15.0 billion in lending to the region for 152 operations in fiscal 2019, (of which two were IBRD and IDA blended operations), including $820 million in IBRD loans and $14.2 billion in IDA commitments. Revenue from Reimbursable Advisory Services agreements with six middle- and high-income countries was $7 million.
Our regional strategy weaves together five core focus areas for stronger development: boosting human capital and empowering women; expanding the digital economy; promoting regional integration; addressing fragility and building resilience to climate change; and mobilizing finance for development.
Strengthening human capital: a focus on women
Building human capital in Africa depends on women’s empowerment, and our Africa Human Capital Plan, launched in April 2019, seeks to help countries accelerate progress. We will increase our human capital investments by 50 percent, including $15 billion in new grants and concessional financing during fiscal 2021–23 to help drastically reduce child mortality to save 4 million lives, avert stunting among 11 million children, and increase children’s learning outcomes by 20 percent.
In Madagascar, we provided $165 million to help expand the safety net to alleviate poverty, build human capital, and strengthen resilience, with an emphasis on vulnerable women and children. To date, it has reached more than 140,000 families across 17 districts. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, $492 million in IDA financing will help 2.5 million children under the age of 2 and 1.5 million pregnant and lactating women—the country’s largest investment in child nutrition to date.
Accelerating digital transformation
The Bank Group and partners are committed to ensuring that every person, business, and government in Africa is digitally enabled by 2030. A digital transformation in the region can increase growth in Africa by nearly 2 percentage points per year and reduce poverty by nearly 1 percentage point per year—and when paired with investments in human capital, these impacts can be doubled.
This is not just about building infrastructure. It includes investments in skills, digital identification, e-commerce, and digital business. We will invest $25 billion in Africa’s digital transformation between now and 2030, and we aim to mobilize at least $25 billion more from the private sector. Through our current portfolio, we are supporting digital integration by financing infrastructure for high-speed internet, such as the fiber optic backbone between the Republic of Congo and Gabon, and helping young African entrepreneurs harness technology to tackle challenges, including access to education, transport, and health services. In Ghana, Bank-financed tech hubs are training more than 650 people to help them break into cutting-edge jobs and new industries.
Addressing the drivers of fragility and climate risks
With climate shocks straining communities and threatening food security, it is critical to invest in climate adaptation and resilience as well as disaster risk management. Under our Africa Climate Business Plan, launched in 2016, the Bank has approved 176 projects for a total of $17 billion. These are delivering results ahead of schedule, particularly in climate-smart agriculture and ocean economies, coastal resilience, integrated watershed management, and renewable energy.
In conflict hotspots, we are helping rehabilitate infrastructure, develop economic opportunities, provide basic services, and build the capacity of governments and civil society. The Bank Group supports the Sahel Alliance, a coalition of partners helping rebuild the social contract and state presence in recently stabilized areas of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Somalia. In Mali, we are helping restore a fishing port that was destroyed by bombardment in 2013. In the Central African Republic, a successful cash-for-work program is helping create jobs and boost self-employment.
Promoting private sector–led growth
While private participation in Africa’s development is rising, with infrastructure investment totaling $7.7 billion according to the 2018 Private Participation in Infrastructure report, there is scope for much more. The Bank Group is working to leverage all sources of finance, expertise, and solutions and working with governments to create an enabling environment for investors.
With our help, Africa is generating most of its energy cleanly and in partnership with the private sector. To date, we have mobilized over $2 billion in private investment in Kenya and nearly $1 billion in Cameroon. Our support has also helped Kenya improve the operational and financial performance of its utilities—with two major utility companies now publicly listed—and develop renewable sources such as geothermal and solar.
Working across countries for better impact
We have strengthened our support for regional integration following adoption of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area in March 2017 and are working closely with Regional Economic Communities to expand our work. At the same time, we have introduced a spatial approach to address common challenges in the Horn of Africa, the Lake Chad region, and the Sahel. Our regional integration portfolio amounts to over $10 billion in more than 70 operations.
Bank support to African Centers of Excellence has increased from $165 million to $465 million, to improve postgraduate education in 45 universities in 19 countries, focusing on science, engineering, economics, and mathematics. We are also strengthening partnerships, including with the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, the EU, and the UN, to drive stronger outcomes on joint priorities such as trade, access to electricity, conflict and violence prevention, and economic integration.
Further Information: Africa Region Homepage >
Regional Commitments and Disbusements for Fiscal 2017–19
| Commitments ($ millions) | Disbursements ($ millions) |
| FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 |
IBRD | 1,163 | 1,120
| 820 | 427 | 734 | 690 |
IDA | 10,679 | 15,411
| 14,187 | 6,623 | 8,206 | 10,190 |
Portfolio of operations under implementation as of June 30, 2019: $77.7 billion. |
Project Spotlight: Empowering women and girls to transform the Sahel
The $295 million Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project (SWEDD) was initiated in 2015 to help Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger empower women and adolescent girls; increase their access to quality reproductive, child, and maternal health services; and help countries develop policy agendas that make demography and gender central to growth.
Religious leaders are conducting community dialogue to support girls’ secondary education, delayed childbearing, birth spacing, family planning, and combating gender-based violence. Men are enrolled in learning programs to encourage participation in household tasks, healthy sexual and reproductive health behaviors, and reduced violence against women and children. Established safe spaces are teaching girls life skills, including problem solving, negotiation, refusal techniques, reproductive health knowledge, and nutrition. Adolescent girls and young women are being trained for professions with higher income opportunities. In Chad, for instance, over 13,000 vulnerable girls have received support through the provision of school kits, payment of school fees, housing, and academic support, resulting in a halving of the dropout rate. Nearly 400 safe spaces have been created in schools, and 280 women have received training in renewable energies and the operation and maintenance of heavy agricultural machinery.
SWEDD also helps parliamentarians, judges, and lawyers improve legislation, expand knowledge and application of existing laws, and extend their services to rarely served victims. Ministries are building capacity to collect data and conduct analysis that can inform population policy and investments.
Regional Snapshot
Indicator | 2000 | 2010 | Current Dataa |
Total population (millions) | 665 | 869 | 1,078 |
Population growth (annual %) | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.7 |
GNI per capita (Atlas method, current US$) | 551 | 1,430 | 1,506 |
GDP per capita growth (annual %) | 0.8 | 2.7 | -0.3 |
Population living below $1.90 a day (millions) | 391b | 409 | 413 |
Life expectancy at birth, females (years) | 52 | 58 | 63 |
Life expectancy at birth, males (years) | 49 | 55 | 59 |
Youth literacy rate, female (% ages 15-24) | 61 | 64 | 72 |
Youth literacy rate, males (% ages 15-24) | 72 | 75 | 79 |
Carbon dioxide emissions (megatons) | 564 | 746 | 822 |
Monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) |
SDG 1.1 Extreme poverty (% population below $1.90 a day, 2011 PPP) | 55.3b | 46.5 | 41 |
SDG 2.2 Prevalence of stunting, height for age (% children under 5)c | 43 | 38 | 34 |
SDG 3.1 Maternal mortality ratio (modeled estimate, per 100,000 live births) | 846 | 625 | 547 |
SDG 3.2 Under-5 mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) | 154 | 101 | 75 |
SDG 4.1 Primary completion rate (% relevant age group) | 54 | 67 | 69 |
SDG 5 Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (modeled ILO estimate, %) | 83 | 84 | 85 |
SDG 5.5 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (% total) | 12 | 19 | 24 |
SDG 6.1 Access to at least basic water services (% population) | 44 | 53 | 58 |
SDG 6.2 Access to at least basic sanitation services (% population) | 24 | 27 | 28 |
SDG 7.1 Access to electricity (% population) | 26 | 33 | 43 |
SDG 7.2 Renewable energy consumption (% total final energy consumption) | 73 | 71 | 70 |
SDG 17.8 Individuals using the Internet (% population) | <1 | 7 | 22 |
Note: ILO = International Labour Organization; PPP = purchasing power parity. a. The most current data available between 2012 and 2017; visit http://data.worldbank.org for data updates. b. 2002 data. For poverty estimates, see the regional groups on http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/data.aspx. c. For prevalence of stunting, all income levels are covered. |