IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/afe/journl/v19y2017i2p93-110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can Extreme Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa be Eliminated by 2030?

Author

Listed:
  • Zorobabel Bicabaa

    (African Development Bank)

  • Zuzana Brixiová

    (University of Cape Town and Institute for Study of Labor (IZA))

  • Mthuli Ncube

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

Eradicating extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030 is the first goal among the UN Sustainable Development Goals that guide the current development agenda. This paper examines its feasibility for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the world’s poorest but growing region. It finds that under plausible assumptions extreme poverty will not be eradicated in SSA by 2030, but it can be reduced to low levels through high growth and income redistribution towards the poor segments of the society. National and regional policies should aim at structural transformation and industrialization that would make their growth paths more inclusive and 'green'. International organizations, including informal ones such as the G20, can play a critical role in this endeavor by encouraging policy coordination and coherence. Further, African countries will need a greater scope for bringing their perspectives into global economic debates on issues impacting sustainable development on the continent.

Suggested Citation

  • Zorobabel Bicabaa & Zuzana Brixiová & Mthuli Ncube, 2017. "Can Extreme Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa be Eliminated by 2030?," Journal of African Development, African Finance and Economic Association (AFEA), vol. 19(2), pages 93-110.
    • Handle: RePEc:afe:journl:v:19:y:2017:i:2:p:93-110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.afeawpapers.org/RePEc/afe/afe-journl/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/JAD_19n2_Fall_2017_6.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sabina Alkire, Maria Emma Santos, 2010. "Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries," OPHI Working Papers 38, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Sam Jones & John Page & Abebe Shimeles & Finn Tarp & Anthony Simpasa & Abebe Shimeles & Adeleke O. Salami, 2015. "Employment Effects of Multilateral Development Bank Support: The Case of the African Development Bank," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 27(S1), pages 31-43, October.
    3. Angus Deaton, 2005. "Measuring Poverty in a Growing World (or Measuring Growth in a Poor World)," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 87(1), pages 1-19, February.
    4. Sam Jones & John Page & Abebe Shimeles & Finn Tarp & John Page & Abebe Shimeles, 2015. "Aid, Employment and Poverty Reduction in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 27(S1), pages 17-30, October.
    5. Simplice Asongu, 2016. "Reinventing Foreign Aid For Inclusive And Sustainable Development: Kuznets, Piketty And The Great Policy Reversal," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 736-755, September.
    6. Nancy Birdsall, Christian Meyer, Alexis Sowa, 2013. "Global Markets, Global Citizens, and Global Governance in the 21st Century," Working Papers 329, Center for Global Development.
    7. Asongu, Simplice A. & Le Roux, Sara, 2017. "Enhancing ICT for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 44-54.
    8. Martin Ravallion, 2013. "How Long Will It Take to Lift One Billion People Out of Poverty?," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 28(2), pages 139-158, August.
    9. Franklin Obeng-Odoom, 2015. "Africa: On the Rise, but to Where?," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 234-250, December.
    10. Edward, Peter & Sumner, Andy, 2014. "Estimating the Scale and Geography of Global Poverty Now and in the Future: How Much Difference Do Method and Assumptions Make?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 67-82.
    11. Sam Jones & John Page & Abebe Shimeles & Finn Tarp & Sam Jones & Finn Tarp, 2015. "Priorities for Boosting Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence for Mozambique," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 27(S1), pages 56-70, October.
    12. AfDB AfDB, . "African Development Report 2015 - Growth, Poverty and Inequality Nexus: Overcoming Barriers to Sustainable Development," African Development Report, African Development Bank, number 2342, August.
    13. Basu, Kaushik, 2013. "Shared prosperity and the mitigation of poverty : in practice and in precept," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6700, The World Bank.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zorobabel Bicaba & Zuzana Brixiova & Mthuli Ncube, 2016. "Eliminating Extreme Poverty in Africa: Trends, Policies and the Role of International Organizations," SALDRU Working Papers 170, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2018. "Increasing Foreign Aid for Inclusive Human Development in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 138(2), pages 443-466, July.
    3. Simplice Asongu & Rexon Nting, 2021. "The role of finance in inclusive human development in Africa revisited," Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(2), pages 345-370, February.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "The Comparative Inclusive Human Development of Globalisation in Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 1027-1050, December.
    5. Zorobabel Bicaba & Zuzana Brixiova & Mthuli Ncube, 2015. "Working Paper 223 - Eliminating Extreme Poverty in Africa: Trends, Policies and the Role of International Organizations," Working Paper Series 2163, African Development Bank.
    6. Asongu, Simplice & Odhiambo, Nicholas, 2019. "Foreign Aid Complementarities and Inclusive Human Development in Africa," MPRA Paper 101086, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Asongu, Simplice & Nwachukwu, Jacinta C., 2015. "Finance and Inclusive Human Development: Evidence from Africa," MPRA Paper 71787, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Simplice A. Asongu & Uchenna R. Efobi & Belmondo V. Tanankem, 2017. "On the Relationship between Globalisation and the Economic Participation of Women in Sub-Saharan Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 17/001, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2019. "Foreign Aid, Education and Lifelong Learning in Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 10(1), pages 126-146, March.
    10. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2016. "Rational Asymmetric Development, Piketty and Poverty in Africa," European Journal of Comparative Economics, Cattaneo University (LIUC), vol. 13(2), pages 221-246, December.
    11. Asongu Simplice & Nwachukwu Jacinta, 2017. "Globalization and Inclusive Human Development in Africa," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(1), pages 1-24, June.
    12. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu, 2017. "Foreign Aid and Inclusive Development: Updated Evidence from Africa, 2005–2012," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 98(1), pages 282-298, March.
    13. Asongu, Simplice & Nwachukwu, Jacinta, 2016. "Reconciliation of the Washington Consensus with the Beijing Model in Africa," MPRA Paper 73685, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Simplice A Asongu & Sara Le Roux, 2019. "Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s Extreme Poverty Tragedy," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 457-467, April.
    15. Simplice A. Asongu & Uchenna R. Efobi & Belmondo V. Tanankem & Evans S. Osabuohien, 2019. "Globalisation and Female Economic Participation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/019, African Governance and Development Institute..
    16. Simplice A. Asongu & Sara le Roux, 2018. "Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s Extreme Poverty Tragedy," Research Africa Network Working Papers 18/012, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi, 2020. "Foreign aid volatility and lifelong learning," International Journal of Education Economics and Development, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(4), pages 370-406.
    18. Simplice Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Enhancing ICT for female economic participation in sub-Saharan Africa," African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(2), pages 195-223, May.
    19. Simplice Asongu & Rangan Gupta, 2016. "Trust and quality of growth: a note," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(3), pages 1854-1867.
    20. John Ssozi & Simplice Asongu & Voxi Heinrich Amavilah, 2019. "The effectiveness of development aid for agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(2), pages 284-305, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; poverty; inclusive growth; simulations; policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O20 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:afe:journl:v:19:y:2017:i:2:p:93-110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christian Nsiah (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.