Democracy and Lifelong Learning in Africa

Education has been identified in both theoretical and empirical literature as a catalyst for socioeconomic development. Yet, across Africa, educational achievements remain below desired standards at various levels. In this study, the impact of democracy on lifelong learning is examined in 52 African countries from 1990 to 2020, employing Fixed Effects regressions. Six democracy indicators, which include electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, and total democracy, derived from the principal component analysis (PCA), are employed in the study. The study also utilises four education variables to capture lifelong learning in Africa and includes primary, secondary, and tertiary school enrolment, as well as a lifelong learning index derived from the PCA. The findings reveal that improving the quality of democracy in Africa can significantly enhance primary school enrollment. The study also finds that improving electoral, participatory, and egalitarian democracy significantly improves secondary school enrollment in the presence of endogeneity. Additionally, enhancing the quality of egalitarian democracy significantly improves tertiary education. These findings show the importance of political institutions in enhancing educational attainment and lifelong learning in Africa.