By 2050, one in four people on the planet will be African, as noticed by The New York Times (NYT) recently. The population there is projected to nearly double to 2.5 billion over the next quarter-century. This will be an era that will not only transform many African countries, experts say, but also radically reshape their relationship with the rest of the world. While the birthrates are poor in richer nations, Africa´s baby boom is creating the fastest-growing population in the world. The median age on the African continent is 19. In India, the world’s most populous country, it is 28. In China and the United States, it is 38.
The youngest Continent
There are 670 million cellphones in Africa, one for every second person on the continent. It is a space for moving money, launching revolutions, or feeding dreams. Businesses are chasing Africa’s tens of millions of new consumers emerging every year. This huge market is for everyone: cosmetics, organic foods, or even champagne. According to the NYT, Hilton plans to open 65 new hotels on the continent within five years. Its population of millionaires, the fastest-growing on earth, is expected to double to 768,000 by 2027, the bank Credit Suisse estimated in its Global Wealth Report 2023.
Young Africans are better educated and more connected than ever: 44 percent graduated from high school in 2020, up from 27 percent in 2000, and about 570 million people use the internet. But finding a good job, or any job, is another matter. Up to one million Africans enter the labour market every month, but fewer than one in four get a formal job, the World Bank says. Unemployment in South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised nation, runs at a crushing 35 percent.
Joint Interest of Governments and the Private Sector
According to the OECD, some 55% of the population of the Middle East and North Africa region is under the age of 30, with nearly a quarter of those falling into the critical years of 15–29. In the right circumstances, young populations can be a driver of innovation and change, fueling a growing economy. A combination of strong educational systems, a robust private sector, basic security, an entrepreneur-friendly legal system, and advanced infrastructure are key factors.
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In many Middle Eastern nations, regulations and laws about hiring and firing workers discourage employers from creating new jobs when times are good, for fear they’ll have to keep those people employed when times get worse again. In many countries, the government is one of the largest employers. Not in the Middle East, where government jobs pay about 30% more on average. This means people will often just wait for a public sector job instead of taking available private sector jobs.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), this is a historic opportunity to invest in the health, protection, and education of people transitioning into their most economically productive years. Both governments and the private sector have a joint interest and a shared responsibility in creating a well-educated and skilled workforce. For the private sector, it can be challenging to act not only out of charity, not only out of corporate responsibility, but foremost from the economic perspective of investing smartly. The private sector has to absorb the new entries into the labour force, either by creating jobs or providing an environment for young people. The returns are high, especially when technology is changing; people with higher human capital adapt faster to change.
