Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the poorest regions in the world, with over a third of people living on less than $1 per day. Poverty is widespread due to low literacy, life expectancy, and income levels. Most people make a living through subsistence farming, barely producing enough to feed their families. As a result, malnutrition is common. Women do most of the farming but are disproportionately impacted by poverty. Many children must work rather than attend school to support their families. Dangerous work in mines and conflicts over resources like diamonds have also exacerbated problems in the region. While international support and some local initiatives have helped improve conditions, much work still needs to be done to address Africa's widespread poverty

1. Economics of
Africa
Mrs. Sumlin
Ms. Seabrooks

2. Sub-Saharan Africa
 Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s
poorest regions.
 More than a third of its people live on less
than $1 a day.
 Quality of life is low in this region because
of literacy rate (ability to read), life
expectancy (how long you will live) and
income.

4. Living In Poverty
 Most people in Sub-Saharan Africa make
their livings through agriculture.
 Lack of machinery means that most
farmers produce barely enough to feed
their families.
 As a result of this extreme poverty, many
people are undernourished (not receiving
enough food and nutrients).

5. The Role of Women
 It’s been reported that 63% of the countries
in this region as having high to very high
levels of hunger.
 Women are affected the most because they
do most of the farming and have children to
feed.
 Women work very hard and produce up to
80% of the food, but are becoming more
impoverished.

7. Women Left in Charge
 Men frequently leave their homes to work in
large cities, leaving the women as the head
of the household.
 Children are greatly affected by the
extreme poverty.
 As families become poorer, more and more
children are forced to leave school and go
to work at younger ages.

8. Child Laborers
 The number of working children has been
predicted to rise from the current 80 million
to over 100 million by 2015.
 Many of these child laborers work on family
farms, but a growing number is forced into
slavery.
 Child trafficking is a huge business,
especially in West and Central Africa.

9. African Child Slaves
 Children are either kidnapped, sold, or
willingly accept jobs that never actually pay
wages.
 Child slaves are often physically or sexually
abused and this concerns some human
rights activists around the world.
 Women and children are not the only ones
to suffer.

11. The Dangers of Making a Living
 Many men can find jobs, but most of the
work is low paying, back-breaking and
sometimes very dangerous.
 Recall how many people died working in
mines under King Leopold II and they are
underpaid .
 Gold is a major export for a number of
these countries and South Africa is the
largest producer.

12. Working in Mines
 South Africa’s mines are less productive
these days and workers have to dig deeper
into the earth to find valuable ore.
 Working in narrow, poorly lit, hot tunnels up
to three miles underground is dangerous.
 Accidents are common and hundreds of
workers lose their lives yearly in mines in
South Africa and elsewhere.

13. Blood Diamonds
 Diamonds is another industry that causes
misery as well.
 African nations produce more than half of
the world’s diamonds.
 For some countries diamonds help stabilize
their government and economies.
 But for others, diamonds have brought
death and horrors as wars are fought for
control of these riches.

14. The Cost of Bitter Wars
 Civil wars in Angola, Dem. Republic of the
Congo and Sierra Leone have been fueled
by the money from illegal diamond sales.
 In Sierra Leone rebels supported by the
illegal diamond profits have killed tens of
thousands, maimed (wounded) hundreds of
thousands and driven nearly five million
civilians from their homes.

15. Help is Much Needed
 African countries desperately need money
to address many of their problems.
 Wars, poverty, lack of education, diseases
and hunger has people suffering there.
 Yet the governments in these regions
spend very little money helping the people.

16. The Cost of Freedom
 One reason why the government spends
very little helping their people is because of
the foreign debt that most African nations.
 Since gaining their independence from
European colonial rulers, Africa countries
have accumulated massive debts to foreign
governments, the World Bank, and
International Money Fund (IMF).

17. A Nation of Debt
 With little money to pay back the debts,
interest has built up over the years making
the debts completely unmanageable.
 Rather than having money to spend on
education and health care, African
governments are forced to pay back
overdue loans or face losing foreign aid.

18. A Bit of Good News for Africa
 Some nations have excused Africa’s debt,
but the poor nations owe so much that they
continue to fall behind financially.
 Not all of Africa’s economic news is bad.
 With the support of international agencies,
corporations and hard workers
improvements are being made.
 Many companies see Africa as an open
market and are now exploring it.

19. A Helping Hand
 Modern cities offer many opportunities in
technology to those that are educated.
 The Organization of African Unity (OAU)
signed a treaty creating African Economic
Community (AEC) in 1991.
 AEC works to increase trade and
interdependence among African nations.
 Several countries are trying to attract
tourism and have local owned businesses.

20. Some Progress and Hope
In villages, small organizations and women groups
have projects that improve farming methods,
building techniques and have encouraged the
growth of small businesses.
 However, progress is slow and much of the
continent, especially rural areas, remain terribly
poor.
 There is hope, but much more work is needed
to bring the continent out of its impoverished
state.