Africa Day is a commemoration of the Organisation of African Unity’s (OAU) work that repealed colonialism and apartheid in the 1960s but, decades later, what do the facts say about how far we’ve come as the world’s youngest population?
According to the World Bank’s 2021 overview of the continent, Sub-Saharan Africa alone is home to more than 1 billion people, “half of whom will be under 25 years old by 2050.”
The continent is recognised as a free trade area with immense potential, owing to its extensive natural resources and skilled people.
Despite its challenges, Africa forges ahead toward a path of growth. The COVID-19 pandemic hindered development processes undertaken in different parts of the continent, but according to the World Bank, it has risen out of a two-year rut with a positive outlook.
Africa Day: Five interesting facts you didn’t know
Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023 is forecasted to increase just below 4%. West and Central Africa, one of the hardest-hit regions on the content, is expected to grow by 3.6%.
Still, however, as indicated in the list of facts we’ve compiled below, there is a long road ahead in reforming the content into the world’s next superpower.
The facts represented below were extracted from Britannica’s updated statistical overview of Africa.
It is the second-largest continent on Earth
The continent is the largest after Asia, and it is bound by the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Red Sea and the Indian Ocean and is divided, almost equally, by the Equator.
The continent has the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels
The continent is a mineral haven with a vast array of mineral resources, including the world’s largest reserves of fossil fuels, metallic ores, gems and precious stones.
It also has a great variety of biological resources like the equatorial rainforests found in Central Africa and, lest we forget, the vast populations of wildlife.
It accounts for 10% of the world’s population
The continent may be the second-largest in area, but bizarrely, it only accounts for 10% of the world’s population, according to Britannica.
In statistical terms, Africa can be considered underpopulated.
The continent’s economy is mostly underdeveloped
With the exception of South Africa and countries in North Africa, economic activity in most regions of the continent is underdeveloped.
The 2022 BigFive Summit offered a window into the short-term future of Africa if small businesses are provided support, but for the most part, the continent still relies largely on agriculture and exports which, according to the Africa Portal, only accounted for 2.19% of global exports in 2020.
It is the cradle of humankind
According to Britannica, Africa is recognised as the birthplace of zoological species referred to as Hominidae, “one of two living families of the ape superfamily Hominoidea and the Hylobatidae.”
Anatomically modern humans first appeared in Africa, 200 000 years ago in the eastern region of Sub-Saharan Africa, it’s believed.