Like what you've read?

On Line Opinion is the only Australian site where you get all sides of the story. We don't
charge, but we need your support. Here�s how you can help.

  • Advertise

    We have a monthly audience of 70,000 and advertising packages from $200 a month.

  • Volunteer

    We always need commissioning editors and sub-editors.

  • Contribute

    Got something to say? Submit an essay.


 The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
On Line Opinion logo ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

Subscribe!
Subscribe





On Line Opinion is a not-for-profit publication and relies on the generosity of its sponsors, editors and contributors. If you would like to help, contact us.
___________

Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Sub-Saharan Africa by the numbers

By Steven Meyer - posted Wednesday, 15 August 2012


To put this in perspective, Angola exports almost as much oil as Nigeria but has only about one tenth the population. However the Angolan oil boom, while it has made a small privileged class wealthy, has done little to benefit the general populace. The broad-based advance seen in SE Asian economies is absent from Angola.

Of course GDP in current dollars does not tell you much about how well-off people are. Price levels vary from country to country. I remember how shocked I was when I translated the price of fruit and vegetable in Australia into South African rand.

Here we see per capita GDP on a "purchasing power parity" or PPP basis for the same countries.

Advertisement

Per capita GDP and population for selected countries in 2012 on a purchasing power parity basis

 

 

Per capita GDP

Population ('000)

SE Asia& Pacific

China

8,500

1,343,240

 

Indonesia

4,700

48,216

 

Malaysia

15,800

29,180

 

Philippines

4,100

103,775

 

Rep. of Korea

32,100

48,861

 

Singapore

60,500

5,353

 

Thailand

9,500

67,091

 

Vietnam

3,400

91,519

South Asia

Bangladesh

1,700

161,084

 

India

3,700

1,205,074

 

Pakistan

2,800

190,219

 

Sri Lanka

5,700

21,481

Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola

6,000

18,056

 

DRC

400

73.599

 

Ghana

3,100

25,242

 

Kenya

1,800

43,013

 

Mozambique

1,100

23,500

 

Nigeria

2,600

170,124

 

South Africa

11,100

48,810

 

Tanzania

1,500

43,602

 

Uganda

1,300

35,873

 

Zambia

1,600

14,310

 

Zimbabwe

500

12,620

Other Asia

Turkey

14,700

79,749

Latin America

Argentina

17,700

42,192

 

Brazil

11,900

205,717

 

Chile

17,400

17,067

 

Mexico

14,800

114,975

(Source: CIA World Factbook)

As we can see the countries that did well using our RPI are richer, on average, than those that did poorly. We also see that South Africa and, to a lesser extent Angola, excepted, sub-Saharan Africa is now much poorer than SE Asia.

Leaving out the special case of South Africa, only one sub-Saharan African country, Angola, thanks to its oil windfall, is in the same class as even the poorer SE Asian countries. And remember, back in 1960, Africa was by some measures a bit richer than SE Asia.

Compare, for the moment, Angola and Indonesia. In terms of per capita GDP Angola appears richer than Indonesia. But 40% of Angolan households live below the poverty line compared to 14% of Indonesian households. Both countries, of course, are still struggling with poverty but the benefits of growth in Indonesia have been more evenly spread than in Angola. In fact Angola is a more unequal society than the much poorer Ghana. This is typical of countries that get rich quickly due to a minerals boom. Wealth gets concentrated in very few hands.

Here are some more statistics about sub-Saharan Africa.

Advertisement

· The region is home to 13 of the world's 20 poorest countries as measured by purchasing power adjusted, per capita GDP

· 15 of the 20 countries with the highest total fertility rates are to be found in the region. With an average of 4.9 children per woman the sub-Saharan African population is exploding. Increased numbers could wipe out economic gains

· 17 of the world's 20 countries with the highest rates of illiteracy are in sub-Saharan Africa. In some ways I think this is the worst statistic of them all.

  1. Pages:
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. Page 3
  5. 4
  6. All


Discuss in our Forums

See what other readers are saying about this article!

Click here to read & post comments.

8 posts so far.

Share this:
reddit this reddit thisbookmark with del.icio.us Del.icio.usdigg thisseed newsvineSeed NewsvineStumbleUpon StumbleUponsubmit to propellerkwoff it

About the Author

Steven Meyer graduated as a physicist from the University of Cape Town and has spent most of his life in banking, insurance and utilities, with two stints into academe.

Other articles by this Author

All articles by Steven Meyer

Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

Article Tools
Comment 8 comments
Print Printable version
Subscribe Subscribe
Email Email a friend
Advertisement

About Us Search Discuss Feedback Legals Privacy