CAUSES of underdevelopment

intro

Africa is the world’s fastest-growing continent and sub-saharan Africa (SSA), the poorest region, has made life leaps in the last decade. Despite this there are many factors and causes contributing to the underdevelopment of SSA: political- poor governance, social - lack of education and economic- poverty. Without effectively improving each of these areas SSA’s development will remain stunted which is detrimental to its future. Although each of these causes are important, lack of education is the cause which is the most damaging to the development of SSA

lack of education explain

One SOCIAL factor that causes underdevelopment in africa is low quality education. Countries that don’t invest in their own education systems hinder their own development and people’s progress into well paid jobs. This can lead the country into poverty which can decrease the civilians health levels and cause an increased risk to illness ebola virus or cholera. African countries struggle on there countries is because there is not enough GDP spending on schools, meaning that they’re fewer learning resources and low-paid, often unqualified teachers hired to reduce costs. The school buildings are also unkept and rundown, meaning the classes are extremely crowded.

lack of education example and analysis

For example, in Malawi, there are 130 children per classroom in grade 1 on average. Therefore this means the children are unable to learn and receive a good enough education to be considered for employment, having a detrimental impact on the country’s economy and leaving them with little to no money to reinvest back into the country.

lack of education explain 2

Also, people that do receive a high level of education in Africa move and work in more prosecutions countries to seek better job opportunities and have a better standard of living. This being referred to as “brain drain”.

lack of education example and analysis 2

For example 30-40% of doctors and trained and qualified in Kenya, leave the country and work elsewhere. This may be because they can receive a better wage and be under less pressure to care for so many people with little resources at hand. However, not every country suffers from the effects of “brain drain.” For example Madagascar has a brain drain of 5.9, which is low compared to many African countries, and has a high employability rate of 84% in 2022. This shows that there are African countries that don’t lose skilled workers and have been able to combat the “brain drain” problem, though not enough for the successful development of the nation.

poor governance explain

One POLITICAL factor that cause underdevelopment in Africa is poor governance. This means the government doesn’t make decisions that improve citizens daily lives and cannot be trusted to deliver services, due to suspected corruption and human rights abuse. Some African countries governments spend millions on vanity projects instead of essential services, which means the choices made often don’t bring benefits to most citizens.

poor governance example and analysis

For example, despite 47% of the population in Senegal living before the poverty line, it recently built the tallest statue in Africa, at a cost of around $27 million. This prevents development as less money is being spent in key areas like education and health, meaning that there’s greater poverty and less economic output. Therefore, it shows poor governance causes poor choices to be made that do not tackle problems directly affecting citizens, like building more homes, which adds to the problem of underdevelopment.

poor governance explain and example 2

This is also demonstrated in Angola, where over 15.1 million people lived in extreme poverty in 2022, with the poverty threshold at $1.90 a day, due to corruption. Ex-presidents daughter Isabel Dos Santos made profitable deals involving oil, land, diamonds and telecoms, which allowed her to exploit natural resources and accumulate a private fortune of $2 billion. She was declared Africas richest woman in 2013, due to this, however at the expense of the country economic development.

poor governance analysis 2

This shows poor that poor governance can cause underdevelopment because it doesn’t allow for enough funding in existing services, like hospitals or schools, forcing forcing people into a cycle of poverty and leading to higher death rates.

poverty explain

one ECONOMIC factor that can cause underdevelopment in africa is poverty. Poverty is a significant challenge in africa, affecting around 420 million people, or one in three Africans. Countries like Burundi and Somalia, who are struggling with high poverty levels find it difficult to develop and provide essential services like healthcare and education. This creates a cycle, as the more people in poverty, the greater the demand for such services, straining already limited resources, due to lower tax returns and overall wealth in the country.

poverty example and analysis

According to a UNICEF report published in 2023. “seven out of ten of the world’s extremely poor children live in Africa.” This means