Poverty eradication target in Africa remains unmet: UN

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

Only seven of the 54 African countries were able to meet the Millennium Development Goal of eradicating poverty, according to a UN report Friday.

A UN initiative launched in 2000, the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) range from eradicating extreme poverty and hunger to combating HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by the end of 2015.

"With the latest data available at the publication of this report, 7 countries have met the poverty target, 12 were close to the target while 11 other countries had seen reversals in their poverty reduction efforts," said the report issued by The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

"Africa remains the region in the world with the largest share of poor people. […] Progress remains below the desirable 28.45 per cent MDG end target with mixed achievements at country level," it said.

According to the report, in many countries poverty reduction was "…hampered by overreliance on a few sectors for growth, high unemployment rates particularly for youth and women and a lack of industries to absorb the continent’s existing large labor supply."

"Africa’s rapid population growth means that there are now close to 110 million more poor people in Africa excluding North Africa than there were in 1990," it noted.

Since 2015, Africa has been transitioning towards the enforcement of 17 Sustainable Development Goals --which replaced the MDGs--, but the continent, according to the report, faces three challenges: putting in place stronger institutional arrangements, follow up and periodic review to remain on track, and gap in access to relevant data.