Leveraging Africa's Demographic Potential: Strategies for Sustainable Development

Isaac Ketu, Centre for Research and Studies in Economics and Management, University of Dschang, Cameroon

The working-age population in Africa, currently around 56 percent of the total, is projected to increase to 63 percent, contributing to the rapid decline in its dependency ratio making Africa the world’s youngest region, with a median age of 25 years. Thus, the youth is Africa’s greatest asset as it constitutes a sizeable market and human resource input. If properly harnessed, this young, growing working-age population could drive Africa’s economic transformation and sustainable development. However, important challenges must be overcomed in order to uncover this untapped potential. These challenges are mostly related to unemployment (or informal employment), inadequate infrastructures and general poverty. This study thus aims to analyse possible strategies that can be put in place in other to harness Africa’s demographic potential to boost sustainable development. Important policy implications are derived from the study.