Ghan A Prosperous Country

4. Read Annual Editions Article 4.1, "Africa's Hopeful Economies: The Sun Shines Bright", pp. 116-122, and Article 4.2, "Can Africa Turn from Recovery to Development?", pp. 122-127.

According to the data from United Nations urbanization prospects 2014, in the early 20th century the urbanized population only accounted 15 percent of the world’s total population. Half century later the pace of urbanization rate accelerated and the figure reached 30 percent in 1950. After nearly 60 years of development, in year 2008 it was the first time that urban population outstripped rural population. Now in 2014 there has been 54 percent of world’s population become urban dwellers. However due to historical geographical and economic reasons, the level of urbanization varies significantly across regions. Highly urbanized regions include Northern America and Caribbean and Latin America with over 80 percent of their total population urbanized.

More jobs are available, the development and increase of diversification creates opportunity, there is access to more technologies, consumption rates are at an all time high, and many gaps are being bridged between business people. There is also a much greater deal of innovation and many new opportunities that were not possible before. Although this may be the case here in America, it is not the ultimate reality globally. The relationship between economic development and urbanization is complex. As it is well noted, many studies would conclude that there is a strong positive correlation between the degree of urbanization and it’s result in per-capita income, but this case is only true in those countries that are already developed. In an effort to provide results on urbanization in developed and developing countries together, we must look at urbanization as a whole. Studies show that as a city increases in population by 10% it offers wages that are anywhere from 0.2 to 1% higher. “The conclusion of the agglomeration literature is that there is a causal static effect of cities and urbanization on wages in more advanced economies, but this effect represents only approximately half the measured association between city population or density and wages.” Overall there are many differences between developed and developing countries and some of these key differences may make it harder for cities in these developing countries to reach their full potential

The economic growth rate is sluggish at best with the year 2005 having a growth rate of 5.25 percent and 2006 having a slightly lower growth rate than the prior year. Many of these setbacks are due to the

The Nigerian economy has quite the surplus of natural resources they offer the potential for economic growth. “Crude oil accounted for over 95% of exports and over 65% of government revenue in 2004;” Nigeria is number eight in the world's exporter for oil. But agriculture still is a big part in the basic economic activity for the Nigerians.

The level of urbanization in the world as a whole was about 46.6 percent in 2000, 50.6 percent in 2010 and it is supposed to reach 57.2 percent in 2025. The corresponding figures for African countries are 36.0 percent, 40.0 percent, and 47.2 percent respectively. Ethiopia was 14.9 percent urban in 2000 and 16.7 percent in 2010 and it is projected to be 21.3 percent urban by 2025. However, urbanization is occurring rapidly in Ethiopia, and it is expected that urban growth rate will remain the fastest with some decline in Ethiopia than in other African countries on average (UN World Urbanization Prospects, 2011).

industry. Angola is the second largest producer of oil in Africa with this resource accounting for

Honestly, one would think that in todays modern world every country should be developed. However, few realize that there are still many developing countries. Mostly due to ignorance, and the majority doesn’t pay attention to the needs of developing countries. For instance, the only time a person may think of a developing country is when the see the commercials on television, and believes that this must be the only issues facing developing countries. Normally, people visualize those commercials asking for money to feed, or asking for help of some type of medical expenses. Take the United States as an example, and often this country would release funds to foreign aid before their own citizens. Which could easily cause tension amongst the government and the American people. According to, SAE there are about 137 developing countries, and countries that earns on average 11,905 or less are a developing country. There are many different choices when comes to picking a developing country. However, the country of Sierra Leone will be the country up for discussion.

Due to the fast pace of urbanization and population growth in urban centers, the pace and growth rate have outstripped the carrying capacity and resources being used to maintain public health standards, environmental conditions, sanitation, and sustainable economic growth. (Adedeji, 2005) Urbanization is a growing global issue and its impact is inevitable in Nigeria. Due to the many challenges posed by the diverse problems associated with urbanization, the need for sustainable development in Nigeria is immediately required especially from the government and developers who are responsible for urban growth. The right policies and incentives need to be put in place if we are to have any hope in preserving the existing cities and surrounding environments of these flourishing urban centers not only for the well-being of inhabitants, both physically and economically, but also for the future survival of Lagos. Urbanization is defined as the ability of urban areas and their immediate regions to be able to function at levels currently obtained and to maintain the quality of life residents have without reducing options available to them in the current or future generations. Urbanization is a “process of human agglomeration in multi-functional settlement of relatively substantial size.” (Mabogunje, 1985) This process is the key initiator for the transformation of cities, towns, and metropolitan areas

Though the country is still one of the top producers of gold and oil, its per capita income has barely increased, even after fifty years. This is due to Ghana’s dependence on foreign trade and international assistance. Much of the people are under the poverty level, and the majority of the country’s workforce is through agricultural privately owned land.

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth has increased rapidly since the turn of the 21st century. GDP growth in the region was expected to rise over 5% between 2013 and 2015 (Source: World Bank Database). This growth is largely driven by an increasing population, a commodity-price boom, rapid urbanization and rise in use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). Within Sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana’s economy has expanded due to political stability, relatively liberal economic policies and a growing middle class.

Before the year began, the federal government forecast a 1.8% growth in the economy, implying that the nation would outdo some bigger global economies in the international grid. However, it is important to know that the federal has not released any substantial economic information for the year 2015, but the economic environment has not changed much from 2014, as the exchange rate for domestic currency remains stable, with expectations in GDP growth in 2016 (Leal 307).

Ghana is a country of many firsts: the first to win a medal in the Olympics for football, first to be a sub- saharan country, and first to use seashells as money. Ghana is a West African country that boarders the Gulf of Guinea, Cote d’ Ivoire, and Togo. It’s comparable to the U.S state, Oregon at 92,100 square miles. Ghana, the richest country in West Africa, once used sea shells as money.

Azerbaijan is an oil-rich country whose gross national income per capita has increased approximately ten times since 2001. Economic growth has been driven by the exploration and development of oil and gas reserves, high levels of public expenditure, and state reforms to support a market-based economy. Despite significant growth, the economy of Azerbaijan remains largely dependent on the extraction and production of oil, which amounted to about 40% of GDP, 95% of national exports and 64 % of total fiscal revenues in 2013-2014.

Non-oil exports are made up of the agricultural sector, manufacturing sector and the service sector of an economy. Nigeria, like many other developing economies has over the years pursued the objective of accelerating the rate of development in the economy in a bid to transform into a developed country. The economy held so much hope for attainment of such goals within a short period of time and this was even before the advent of oil as the main export commodity. These potentials were so much that Nigeria was seen to becoming the most industrialized African economy within a short period of time. The foundation of these potentials was laid by the agricultural sector which effectively and efficiently played its traditional role which economic theory predicts it should play in the path of economic development. According to Johnston and Mellor (1961), the roles are as follows; Product contribution (source of food), Market contribution (buying and selling to earn a living), Factor contribution (serves as raw materials for industries) and Foreign exchange contribution (through exportation). Despite the prominence of the oil sector in the past three decades, agriculture remains arguably the largest and most important sector as its contribution to the gross domestic product has remained stable between 30 and 42 percent, also it employs about 65 per cent