According to statistics compiled by the World Bank, poverty has dramatically increased in Sub-Saharan countries due to conflicts and political instability in the region.
In 1990, 278 million people were identified as poor in Sub-Saharan Africa. This number increased to 397 million in 2019, the World Bank revealed.
The report pointed out that in 1990, 80% of the world’s poor were living in South Asia, while only 13.8% were in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2019, though, the share in South Asia fell to 31.4% while that of Sub-Saharan Africa increased to 56.6%.
The World Bank explained that within Sub-Saharan Africa, “poverty is increasingly concentrated in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCS)”. These include Madagascar, Burundi, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Malawi, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.
In fact, the only country outside Sub-Saharan Africa included as an FCS that registered a poverty rate above 60% was Syria. Yemen was a close second with 58%.
The World Bank also mentioned that African countries that managed to avoid fragility, such as Benin, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, and Senegal, also managed to steadily reduce poverty.
