In general, an ageing population puts added pressure on the working-age population to be more productive – just to maintain total output – amid growing fiscal constraints.
Pope Francis in Nairobi, Kenya, during his first papal visit to the African continent in 2015.
Nichole Sobecki/Getty Images
Governments coming to power riding a wave of youth protests can employ authoritarian tactics to silence dissent from the same movements.
Delegates at the African Union Summit held in Malabo, Capital of Equatorial Guinea, on 27 May 2022 to address worsening humanitarian crises in Africa.
AFP via Getty Images
The AU’s first two decades have largely represented a magical, mystical world of unfulfilled expectations.
Zimbabwe’s opposition Citizens Coalition for Change supporters attend an election campaign rally in Harare, in February. Zimbabwe, 20 February.
EPA-EFE/Aaron Ufumeli
Young people’s use of technology such as Twitter shows that they are interested in politics and governance and have found a way to participate.
Women fill plastic shopping bags with light polyethelene plastics to make soccer balls from re-used plastics in Cape Town. Women bear the brunt of joblessness in South Africa.
EFE-EPA/Nic Bothma
South Africa can’t possibly remain the same country in the aftermath of this mayhem. There are just too many storms ahead to simply continue unchanged.
Makeshift shops have mushroomed as people try to make ends meet amid South Africa’s excessive unemployment.
Hobermunemployment. an Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Many unemployed young people are engaged in a variety of economic activities. These may not necessarily be recognised as a form of self employment or informal employment.
A queue of eager voters in Hawassa, Ethiopia, during the Sidama referendum in November 2019.
Photo by Michael Tewelde/AFP via Getty Images
Ethiopian history shows that the demands of its young people can’t go unaddressed for long.
A group of young men wait on a road for work in South Africa. A staggering 74% of the country’s youth are jobless.
Photo by Frederic Lewis/Getty Images
Relying solely on job placement as an indicator of successful intervention misses out on outcomes that are equally important, or more so, amid high structural unemployment.
A woman casts her ballot in Victoria, Seychelles in 2016.
AFP via Getty Images
Africa is far from having an ageing farming population. What is missing is a critical mass of skilled, young farmers with access to finance who could drive productivity in farming.
South Africa has among the worst youth unemployment rates in the world.
Western perceptions of what’s happening in Tunisia differ sharply with Tunisia’s daily reality: the truth is that its political transformation is in trouble.
The average woman in Niger has over seven children – nearly triple the average across developing countries.
Reuters/Tim Cocks
Research shows that unrest, even terrorism, can erupt in poor countries with a surplus of young people and not enough jobs. Can Niger, a once-peaceful sub-Saharan African nation, handle its baby boom?
A man offers his services at a traffic intersection in Cape Town. Almost 55% of South African youth are unemployed.
EFE-EPA/Nic Bothma
A national minimum wage could benefit young people who have jobs and stimulate those who have given up trying to find work. But those without work need additional help.
Kenyan youth chant in celebration before the arrival of Pope Francis at the Kasarani stadium in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
The African Union has identified youth as critical for development. But, a new survey reveals a wide gap between these aspirations and the reality of youth public engagement on the continent.