Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/156312 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
Vienna Institute of Demography Working Papers No. 4/2016
Publisher: 
Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Vienna Institute of Demography (VID), Vienna
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 United Nations 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 labour 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
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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