The perception of Africa is often limited to poverty, disease, starvation and inequality. In 1999, extreme poverty affected 58% of the African population. That number has now fallen to 35%. With over 500 companies generating a turnover involving billions of dollars each year, Africa is not emerging – it’s already here.
Surprising to most, Africa is the world leader in online banking and mobile money transactions. The continent faces many challenges and difficulties, but Africa is evolving and already boasts numerous economies.
It’s no longer a continent of conflict. Many foreigners forget that most countries in Africa are democratically run.
Africa’s growth can be tracked in multiple areas, such as the improvement in democracy in government, population growth, demographics, education, and an uptake in IT and mobile phone usage.
Nigeria
One in every five Africans is Nigerian; that is an indicator of how large and populated Nigeria is. Often referred to as the “Giant of Africa” owing to this reputation, Nigeria has a population of approximately 187 million, and the largest youth population in the world. The country is home to over 500 ethnic groups, with Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba being the three largest.
Governed by President Muhammadu Buhari, who took over from Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, the country is run by a presidential government system consisting of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary.
According to the Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the
Like many other continents in the world Africa has a lot of differences in itself for example there are differences in geography ,language, politics, religion and other things in life due to Africa’s lack of political government over an extended period of time.
Two futures for Africa are possible-one with a democratic and stable Nigeria, and one with a Nigeria stricken by autocratic rule, corruption, and intermittent coups. An entire continent awaits the result of the Nigerian experiment with democracy. Nigeria has the resources and can provide leadership to foster greater regional and international cooperation, leadership that many of Nigeria's neighbors need. A successful Nigerian democracy would provide hope for many of Africa's other burgeoning democracies.
Here on the tip of Africa two great oceans meet, warm weather is here most of the year, and many animals and diverse lands lay beyond the city lights. We are the leader of African economies, our economy is the most advanced and well developed economy on the continent. Our infrastructure also matches that of any first world country.
Between America and other European nations, stereotypes and misrepresentations have ultimately plagued the continent of Africa. To every side there is often another story, yet unfortunately for the many countries of Africa, they are ultimately victimized and suffer through further oppression. According to Curtis Keim’s book Mistaking Africa, Keim suggests that Africa is essentially under the public microscope, it tends to be scrutinized, and compared to European nations and America. Keim elaborates on human natures need to group people, places, and things, which creates the theory of superiority or dominance over races, cultures, and even religions.
Africa was once a thriving and wonderful continent filled with luxurious and wealthy kingdoms, but that had all changed when a new and appalling type of slavery was introduced. Around the 18th century, Africa became an ideal place for Europeans to trade and buy slaves from. The slave trade in Africa seemed to be manageable and somewhat peaceful before the Europeans brought in a new type of slavery. When the Europeans bought slaves from Africans, they kept them as slaves for life which were very different from how long slaves were kept in Africa. Europeans kept slaves in extremely poor conditions and treated them as if they were less than human. These actions caused a great spike in the slave trade all over the world and many
Africa nowadays is viewed as a pretty poor continent, but if it were not for a single event, it wouldn’t be in the shape it is today. This event is best known as the scramble for Africa. The European powers had begun taking land after King Léopold the second claimed that initial piece of land. European powers gathered in 1884 to discuss which part of Africa were theirs to avoid fighting, however this was done between European countries, and the thought of even inviting a spokesperson from Africa was beyond them. The people of Africa were enslaved and forced to work the land for natural resources such as rubber and diamond. After the European powers claimed all that they could, two independent countries remained. These two countries were Liberia and Ethiopia. The “Eurocentric” perspective that the European powers had at the time allowed for them to commit these horrible acts and see nothing wrong with what they had
The Challenge for Africa. New York, Random House, 2009. Print. Maathai believes there is much more to Africa than what is gleaned in a headline. The headline often provides information of poverty and debt in Africa as well as disease; which some has no context.
When learning about the history of the world, we can not ignore the fact that Africa plays a significant role. Many believe that Africa is the birth place of all races, and although that is true, the history and cultures of Africa and its natives are misunderstood among Americans. People do not take the time to expand their knowledge about Africa, yet they create their own perceptions of the continent based upon the image that America created. America creates this stereotype that Africa is inferior to the other continents by picturing them as savage like individuals who live an insufficient life. To truly understand Africa, you must understand these two important elements: the demographics of Africa and the true history of Africa
Modern African states have various problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. Africa’s ongoing political instability and economic crisis have hindered the improvement of Africa. Thus, the lack of money, advancement in technology, and climate has hampered economic development. Despite European mistreatment and oppression African’s have endured hardships that have encouraged economy, education, and political
This religion takes up about 42.8% of the nation’s total population. Other religions throughout the country include Catholic, Muslim, Vodoun, and Protestant. Most adherents of the Yoruba religious group are located in the south, whereas the other African Religion beliefs are found more in the north and southeast.
One of the biggest problem in today’s world is the struggle of African Countries and others. Seventy-five percent of the world’s poorest countries are located in Africa. Approximately one in three people living in Africa are undernourished and millions even lack the opportunity to have clean water. Only around twenty percent of women in Africa have access to education. This data proves that modern world
As many know through the news, Sub- Saharan Africa is not a wealthy nor financially stable
Africa is a continent plagued by misinformed and false stereotypes, rarely being seen or portrayed as what it really is. Countless amounts of myths and ideas are formulated based off of single stories or one-sided stories from the region, often without a second thought. These stereotypes give Africa an overall negative image to the rest of the world and suppress the reality that is hidden behind the slew of stereotypes. The belief that all of Africa is poor and undeveloped is an uninformed statement that harms the reality and worsens the image of the continent by perpetuating an incomplete idea into the world.
The myth and stereotypes about Africa are not anything new and they are very present in our daily lives and the way Africa is portrayed. For example the reason why many people today think that Africa is bleak land of poverty and diseases is because early writers, historians, and geographers talked about Africa in that way. Because these stereotypes are so readily available, they infiltrate people’s daily thinking. Furthermore this makes people less likely to actually seek to really learn about Africa because they feel that their [inaccurate] suffice for their worldview of Africa. This is in turn leads people completely ignoring anything that contract their already established ideas.
The region is made up of 48 countries with a population of 973.4 million as correct of 2014 (The World Bank). Furthermore, over 60% of that demographic is under 30, showing promise for an increasing working age population. Africa can use this vast labour potential to increase GDP and therefore increase the wealth of the continent.