Urbanization and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa

CHAM, AWA

2022/2023

Abstract

In this paper, we try to understand the continuous urbanization in Africa. Urbanization is

rapidly increasing in Africa at a time, it is also fleeting through an unlimited
demographical change with growth in the young work force. Given that most African
economies are labour intensive, coupled with the fact that they lag in exploiting their
natural resources, rising urbanization will likely worsen unemployment concerns in
urban centres. In the same vein, agriculture accounts for a substantial proportion of GDP
in these countries (in The Gambia for instance, it accounts for roughly 63%). Continued
movement of youth from the rural agricultural areas will have a direct effect on yield,
translating into a fall in economic output. The political, social, and economic weakness in
Africa makes it hard to deal with urbanization. Most countries in Africa are struggling for
development and with the urban becoming crowded, the challenges are exacerbated.
Urbanization in Africa is caused by poverty and the youths in the rural areas are
attracted by the opportunities available in the urban. African urbanization has not been
well functional, the reason being the fact that urban cities have not generated enough
productive jobs. If policy makers have not change policies on urbanization in some
African countries, future Urbanization is likely to be the same as the current situations.