African Poverty at the Millennium : Causes, Complexities, and Challenges

White, Howard ; Killick, Tony ; Kayizzi-Mugerwa, Steve ; Savane, Marie-Angelique

Washington, DC:World Bank

关键词: ACCESS TO SERVICES;    CONFLICT;    CONSUMPTION POVERTY;    DATA AVAILABILITY;    DATA SET;   

DOI  :  10.1596/0-8213-4867-1
RP-ID  :  22067

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The multifaceted nature of the povertyproblem, and the widening gap between the levels of humanwell-being in Africa, compared with the other developingregions, are the central themes of this report. The keyelements of poverty reduction strategies in the region arereviewed, pointing at the need for accelerated economicgrowth, if living standards are to improve in Africa. Tothis end, the report outlines the growth of African poverty,amid the variations between countries, which reflectregional differences, such as higher levels of infant/childmortality in West Africa, though this gap is narrowing,partly because of the higher HIV/AIDS prevalence in eastern,and southern Africa. It analyzes the causes of poverty,through the interaction of cause and effect, neglect, andpolicy implications, and examines economic stagnation as thecause of much poverty, through an overview of growth vs.distribution, the slow pace of growth in Africa, and theimpact of growth as it affects poverty groups differently.However, it also points at the failure of both governments,and markets in reducing poverty, stating political systemsdo contribute to economic stagnation, whereas sustainablesocial indicators require not only growing incomes, butimproved state service provision. The need for the donorcommunity to redefine poverty reduction is imminent, and thereport suggests more selective aid allocation, includingdebt relief, in accordance with government commitments toreducing poverty.