400 million poor people in Africa in 2015

The number of poor people in Africa from 180 million 20 years ago is expected to increase to 400 million by the end of the year.

This estimate was given by Iris Macculi, an expert from the Economic Commission for Africa (CEA) of the United Nations on Tuesday June 16, 2015 as part of a three day UN workshop that took place in Douala.

The theme of the sub regional workshop was: ‘Measuring human exclusion with a view to structural change - African Social Development Index (IADS)’.

Participants from countries of the CEMAC; Sao Tome and Principe, Burundi, Comoros and Madagascar, listened to the expert while he explained that the population growth rate remains higher than that of economic growth, which paves the way for an increase in the number of poor people.

He also said that "the benefits of economic growth” are "not shared" equitably.

Other key discussions were on human exclusion which revealed that: in Sub-Saharan Africa, one in nine children die before turning five years or 16 times more than the average for developed countries; two in five African children under five are stunted; 133 million young Africans are illiterates (the majority being women) among others.

It is especially sad that the continent recorded during the last ten years "unprecedented economic growth," according to the words of the Director of Sub regional Office for Central Africa of Cea.

Emile Ahohe, who opened the seminar, said despite "remarkable progress, the continent's countries are not yet able to transform their economies or to meet the social development levels recorded in other parts of the world. So there is still much to do to eradicate inequality, unemployment, lack of basic social services, etc”.

It is in this context that the Cea developed the IADS to assist the Member States to measure the degree of human exclusion on the continent and plan more inclusive development policies.

This index measures the exclusion of six stages: survival, health, education, employment, income from the production and quality of life.

The Douala workshop has been designed to enable participants to become familiar with this tool, develop their skills and share their experiences in the formulation of more inclusive and equitable social policies.