Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/147847 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10161
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We assess Africa's prospects for enjoying a demographic dividend. While fertility rates and dependency ratios in Africa remain high, they have started to decline. According to UN projections, they will fall further in the coming decades such that by the mid-21st century the ratio of the working-age to dependent population will be greater than in Asia, Europe, and Northern America. This projection suggests Africa has considerable potential to enjoy a demographic dividend. Whether and when it actually materializes, and also its magnitude, hinges on policies and institutions in key realms that include macroeconomic management, human capital, trade, governance, and labor and capital markets. Given strong complementarities among these areas, coordinated policies will likely be most effective in generating the momentum needed to pull Africa's economies out of a development trap.
Subjects: 
Africa
declining fertility
demographic dividend
development
education
health
infrastructure
JEL: 
J11
J13
J16
O10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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