Africa – vast continent, big challenges, great potential
 Sub-Saharan
Africa is a vast and ethnically diverse region, rich in culture and natural
resources, yet with the highest proportion of people living in extreme poverty
in the world. About one in two people survive on less than a dollar a day
There have been real signs of progress in reducing poverty in Africa. The
average annual GDP growth across Africa between 1998 and 2006 was 4.3% which is
higher than the world average. In the UK it was approximately 2.8%. The
cancellation of Nigeria’s debt in October 2005 has meant that an additional $1
billion a year is available for the government of
Nigeria’s to spend on
poverty reduction. In 2006, the gains resulted in the retraining of 145,000
teachers and the recruitment of 40,000 new teachers. Since the abolition of
school fees in
Tanzania in 2001 the number of
children enrolled in primary schools has increased from 4.4 million in 2000 to 8
million by 2006 with 97% of children now enrolled; the number of teachers has
increased by a quarter and the number of schools by a fifth. In
South Africa ten million more
people have access to clean water than in 1994 and in
Uganda the proportion of children
immunised rose from 41% in 2000 to 89% in 2005. In
Rwanda access to healthcare
has improved with 60% of the population within 5km of a health centre.
Vaccination rates for children under 5 have remained high (85%) and essential
drugs are available 95% of the time.
But on current trends, the Millennium Development Goals are unlikely to be
reached by 2015: average life expectancy is 47 years in Sub Saharan Africa, over
40 million children in Africa do not get the opportunity to go to school, over a
third of the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa is under-nourished, 250,000
women died during pregnancy or childbirth, that’s 1 in 16 and 1 in 5 children
die before the age of 5.
In 2006/07 DFID spent an estimated £1.05 billion on bilateral and regional
programmes to reduce poverty in Africa, of which 90% was spent in our 16
priority countries. In 2007/08 DFID’s will spend up to £1.25 billion. DFID’s 16
priority countries for 2005-2008 are: DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho,
Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sudan,
Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The UK has made significant commitments to support Africa’s development
including through the
G8 and the
EU. DFID works with other UK government departments, African
partners and other donors to act on those promises.
For more information on what DFID does across Africa please see our
Africa Factsheet, or on
individual country programmes please click on one of the country links at the
top of the page
DFID also works with Pan African and regional institutions and issues
Last updated: 14 February 2008
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