What Are Some of the Most Important “Poverty in Africa” Facts?

With many people sinking further into poverty in Africa, facts show the crisis is growing dire. According to the poverty clock, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of residents living in extreme poverty, defined as having less than $1.25 a day. In 2010, that number included 414 million people in the region, with Nigeria having the highest concentration in the world. In fact, 75 percent of the world’s poorest nations are in Africa. Africa also has the highest prevalence of undernourishment, estimated to be 20 percent of its population in 2016.[1]

Here are some other facts on poverty in Africa:

• Over 40 percent of all Africans are unable to regularly get sufficient food. Sub-Saharan Africa also has 589 million people with no access to electricity, forcing 80 percent of the population to cook their meals by burning wood, charcoal or dung.[2]
• Of the 738 million people globally who lack access to clean water, 37 percent of them are in Africa. More than 50 percent of Africans have a water-related illness, like cholera.[3]
• Women of sub-Saharan Africa are 230 times more likely to die during childbirth or pregnancy than women in North America. That is one in sixteen African pregnancies that result in death.[4]
• Approximately 80 percent of Africa’s poor live in rural areas, which is more susceptible to risk than urban life.[5]

Immediate action is still needed to address the issue of poverty in Africa, but fixing poverty is a marathon, not a sprint. Though the percentage of people in poverty has fallen in Africa, the rapidly growing population means that the total number of people in poverty has grown.[6]