Researchers presented the survey findings in Johannesburg last week. The problems are deepest in East and West Africa, but they said even countries with strong economies are affected.
Robert Mattes is a professor at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He says the findings should be a wake-up call to governments that poverty levels have actually increased in South Africa and Botswana.
“Based on that, one might say, with all the levels of growth that have been reported across the continent, with all the other kind of interventions that donors have made to try and bring down poverty, that there has not been much to speak of in the areas of success.”
The survey showed people in Togo, Burundi, Guinea, Niger and Senegal experience the highest levels of poverty. People in Mauritius and Algeria reported the lowest levels.
Most of the Africans in the survey criticized their government’s economic policies. Sixty-nine percent said they were dissatisfied with job creation. Seventy-six percent said they were not happy with efforts to reduce income gaps between the rich and the poor.
Afrobarometer says this survey suggests that either growth rates are not matching what is being reported or economic growth is not helping those at lower levels of the economy.
The researchers say the only way to reduce poverty levels is to increase investment in basic infrastructure, like water pipes, electricity, education and health services.
最新
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25