Child poverty, inequality and demography. Why sub-Saharan Africa matters for the Sustainable Development Goals

Sub-Saharan Africa’s children account for a large and fastrising share of world poverty. Scenarios developed for this paper suggest that by 2030 – the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target date for eliminating extreme poverty – around one-in-five sub-Saharan African children will be living in poverty, and that these children will account for 43% of global poverty. The emerging face of residual world poverty is the face of an African child. Changing this picture will take more than ambitious declarations at global summits. If Africa’s governments and the wider international community are serious about ending extreme poverty in a generation, as envisaged under the 2030 goals, strategies for combating child poverty in sub-Saharan Africa must be brought centre-stage.
The rising profile of sub-Saharan Africa’s children in global poverty can be traced through three powerful
drivers. First, the region’s poor are further from the World Bank’s $1.90 poverty threshold than the poor in
other regions: they have further to travel to cross the line. Second, high levels of inequality and resource-intensive growth have weakened the conversion of economic growth into poverty reduction. We stress that poverty scenarios do not chart the destiny of nations. Policy interventions have the potential to change
sub-Saharan Africa’s 2030 scenario. Many of the measures required are well-known. Human capital investments have a critical role to play.

Keywordspoverty reduction, demographic change, social protection, women, children