Africa is a continent that many believe was the start of man. The continent of Africa has a complicated and storied history, and this has led to it being a socially unique region with a lot of customs and cultural aspects one cannot find anywhere else in the world. Africa is still one of the poorest continents in the entire world – perhaps the poorest. It is also a disease-ridden and war-ridden territory of nation states that do not seem to get along. Why is it then that experts have said that Africa is on the verge of becoming, perhaps, the next superpower of the world? This analysis will look at the various reasons why demographers and researchers are so optimistic about Africa and the future of its people (Robertson, n.d.).
Quantitative Analysis
Between the years of 1975 to the 21st century, Africa’s population nearly doubled from 415 million people to 810 million people. In a 25 year span, the population of Africa was able to balloon to astronomical numbers. In 7 years, this population will most likely breach 1.4 billion people and by 2100 the population will shoot past 2 billion. Of course, 2100 is a quite a long time away, so let’s just focus on the next 25-50 years (Boserup, 2017). According to Goldman’s measure of long-term economic growth, countries in Africa are some of the worst on this measurement scale. This stat, however, is misleading. The most important country in Africa, Nigeria, houses 20-25% of the continent’s entire population. Why is population growth so important? In the 1990s, we expected Japan to become the second biggest economy, but their population growth slowed, and they have actually been losing workers. This has ultimately caused their economy to slow, and China soon overtook them and become the superpower of the region, thus changing the course of the 21st century.
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Qualitative Analysis
This report mentioned above how important Nigeria is to the future of Africa. Nigeria is going to become a huge factor in whether the entire continent can turn itself into he next world superpower. Nigeria’s politicians seem determine to get corruption out of the government and bring investment spending into the country. This will ultimately lead to institutional investors coming in and bringing tremendous wealth to the region. Right now, we are actually seeing this with China, as the fastest growing economy has plugged Africa with institutional investments, or money because it sees the potential of the continent and its people (O’Neill, 2011).
What’s more, Africa is beginning to become ever more connected with the rest of the world through wireless technology; with outside help from countries like the U.S. and France, Africa is beginning to understand basic banking fundamentals, which is very important in building a society that is economically feasible with the rest of the world. Africa, of course, has its challenges. Disease is its worst threat, and war is likely the second. However, organizations like the Bill Gates Foundation are working to help the governments of Africa weed out the diseases, such as Ebola, that affect thousands of people each year. With the use of vaccinations and medical technology, Africa has the opportunity to combat illness.
Conclusion
Africa is surely going to be the next world superpower if the countries can become more unified in fighting disease. The population growth rate of the entire region is insanely fast, and it will likely continue to grow at the projections the UN has put forth as long as the continent is not stricken with disease. With the help of organizations, the probability of this happening is very low because of the modern medical day miracle we have: vaccinations and antibiotics.
- Boserup, E. (2017). The conditions of agricultural growth: The economics of agrarian change under population pressure. Routledge.
- O’Neill, J. (2011, December 15). The Next, Next Global Superpowers: Why Africa Is Rising . Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/12/the-next-next- global-superpowers-why-africa-is-rising/250025/
- Robertson, C. (n.d.). Africa’s next boom. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/charles_robertson_africa_s_next_boom
