- Afrobarometer survey shows that most countries have lost the gains they had recorded in poverty reduction between 2000 and 2015.
- An estimated 81% of the people report going without a cash income while 66% lack medicine or medical care.
- Data from 39 African countries surveyed in 2021/2023 suggests that increased corruption may play a role in resurgent lived poverty.
A growing number of Africans are trapped in the crushing grip of poverty, with the latest Afribarometer survey revealing a sharp rise in populations struggling to afford food and other basic necessities. The survey indicates that severe deprivation has reached its highest average level in 25 years.
Afrobarometer survey shows that most countries have lost the gains they had recorded in poverty reduction in the first decade and a half of the 21st century. The Afrobarometer is a Pan-African, non-partisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life.
“Economic growth stagnated in the middle part of the 2010s. And by the end of the decade, African economies were further battered by declining foreign investment and commodity prices, reduced grain imports, and rising domestic prices – trends linked to climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” the report notes in part.
It adds, “By Afrobarometer’s eighth round of surveys, conducted in 2019/2021, results showed that Africa had given back all the gains in poverty reduction it had achieved in the previous decade (Mattes & Patel, 2022).”
The report, which was based on data gathered from 39 countries in Africa surveyed in 2021/2023 also suggests that increased corruption may play a role in resurgent lived poverty, though further research is required to identify factors driving this trend.
Key findings on lived poverty in Africa
Across economies, a millions of people are experiencing painful levels of lived poverty. For instance, an estimated 81 per cent of the people reported going without a cash income. At the same time, 66 per cent of the population reported lacking medicine or medical care. Additionally, 59 per cent said they lack sufficient food, clean water (57 per cent), and cooking fuel (51 per cent) at least once during the previous year.
On average across 30 countries surveyed consistently since 2011/2013, about three-quarters or more of respondents have reported that they went without a cash income at least once during the previous year, with a seven-percentage-point increase since 2014/2015.
Deprivation also shows increases, on average, for the other four basic necessities: Compared to 2014/2015, “going without” is up by 15 points for medical care, 13 points for food, 12 points for cooking fuel, and 9 points for clean water.
What’s more, the rates of severe lived poverty, or the experience of “going without” basic necessities on a frequent basis, have also risen to a new high, affecting 24 percent of citizens.
Lived poverty varies widely across the continent in extent, intensity, and trajectory. For example, over the past decade, severe material deprivation has fallen in Liberia, Burkina Faso, Togo, Gabon, and Morocco while increasing sharply in Nigeria, Namibia, Mali, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
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Severe lived poverty: differences by country
Overall, the survey shows that one in four people or about 26 per cent fall into severe lived poverty. To measure lived poverty, Afrobarometer asks respondents a number of questions, including: Over the past year, how often, if ever, have you or anyone in your family gone without: Enough food to eat? Enough clean water for home use? Medicines or medical treatment? Enough fuel to cook your food? A cash income? Respondents are offered the following range of options: “never” for those who experienced no shortages, “just once or twice,” “several times,” “many times,” and “always.”
The latest survey shows that severe lived poverty is almost non-existent in Mauritius (1 per cent) and is relatively rare in Morocco (3 per cent), Seychelles (6 per cent), Ghana (9 per cent), and Tunisia (10 per cent). At the other extreme, about half of citizens experience frequent shortages of basic necessities in Mauritania (50 per cent) and Congo-Brazzaville (48 per cent), followed by Angola (44 per cent), Niger (40 per cent), Nigeria (39 per cent), Guinea (39 per cent), and Cameroon (38 per cent).
Regionally, Afrobarometer established that levels of severe lived poverty are more intense in Central African countries than in those in other parts of the continent. On average, 35 per cent of citizens in the four Central African countries surveyed by Afrobarometer experienced severe deprivation, followed by 27 per cent of West and Southern Africans, 22 per cent of North Africans, and 18 per cent of East Africans.
Reduction in severe poverty
Among the 34 countries surveyed by Afrobarometer in both 2019/2021 and 2021/2023, Sierra Leone reported the biggest short-term gains in the reduction of severe poverty: The share of citizens categorised as facing these high levels of lived poverty fell by 11 percentage points, from 26 per cent to 15 per cent.
On the contrary, Africa’s biggest economy Nigeria experienced the largest uptick in these rates, from 25 per cent to 39 per cent of its population. Nigeria was closely followed by five Southern African economies of Namibia (+11 points), Botswana (+11 points), Malawi (+9 points), Angola (+6 points), and South Africa (+6 points).
Afrobarometer notes that expanding this analysis to a longer time frame shows that severe lived poverty increased by at least two percentage points in 23 of the 33 countries (70 per cent) surveyed in both 2014/2015 and 2021/2023. These increases were highest in Nigeria (+26 points), followed by Namibia (+17 points), Mali (+17 points), and Zimbabwe (+15 points).
