## Sub-Saharan Africa's Growth Requires Quality Education for Growing Population

_IMF Blog, April 25, 2024_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [Sub-Saharan Africa's Growth Requires Quality Education for Growing Population](https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2024/04/25/sub-saharan-africas-growth-requires-quality-education-for-growing-population)

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Michele Fornino, Andrew Tiffin
- Published: April 25, 2024

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### Demographic prospects and opportunity
- The region’s population is poised to double to 2 billion by 2050.
- Expansion will be led by growth in the working-age population of those ages 15 to 64, which will outpace other age groups and drive almost all the increase.
- Demographic transition may be the biggest single opportunity for the economies of sub-Saharan Africa, contingent on sufficient investment in education.

### Current education access and learning outcomes
- Nearly three in 10 school-age children do not attend school.
- For primary school students, the completion rate is around 65 percent, compared with a world average of 87 percent.
- The literacy rate for those ages 15 to 24 is only 75 percent, below the nearly 90 percent rate in other emerging market and developing economies.
- Pandemic-related school closures led to learning losses that in some cases reversed years of progress.
- For the median country in sub-Saharan Africa, only 15 percent of students in primary and secondary school achieve more than the minimum learning outcome.
- Teacher training rates have fallen steadily for two decades.

### Public spending and financing gaps
- The median education budget was equal to about 3.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2020, which is below the international recommendation of at least 4 percent of GDP.
- Recent IMF analysis indicates that achieving the key Sustainable Development Goal of universal primary and secondary school enrollment by 2030 may require doubling education expenditures as a share of GDP, including from both public and private funding sources.

### Economic rationale for investment
- Investment in education provides long-term economic gains such as higher productivity and foreign direct investment, as shown in the latest Fiscal Monitor.
- Protecting education budgets amid tighter fiscal constraints and the ongoing funding squeeze is recommended to preserve future growth potential.
- Better connecting the region’s abundant human resources with abundant capital in advanced economies and major emerging markets could attract long-term flows of investment, technology, and know-how.

### Policy recommendations and roles
- Governments in sub-Saharan Africa should:
  - Prioritize and protect education budgets amid tighter fiscal constraints.
  - Implement best practices in public financial management to raise domestic revenue and ensure funds are well-spent.
  - Improve the efficiency of spending to raise learning outcomes (noting low rates of students achieving more than minimum learning outcomes and declining teacher training rates).
- Donors and international organizations should:
  - Maintain or expand education funding support across the region to ensure the supply of a productive labor force.
- With the right policies—especially in education—the region could better equip its young population for evolving technology and job landscapes and become a dynamic source of new demand for consumption and investment.

*Based on the April 2024 Regional Economic Outlook for sub-Saharan Africa and related IMF analysis.*

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## References

- [Regional Economic Outlook](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/REO/SSA/Issues/2024/04/19/regional-economic-outlook-for-sub-saharan-africa-april-2024?cid=bl-com-SM2024-REOAFREA2024001)
- [Fiscal Monitor](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/FM/Issues/2024/04/17/fiscal-monitor-april-2024?cid=bl-com-SM2024-FMOEA2024001)
- [connect](https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2024/03/08/sp031424-kings-college-cambridge-kristalina-georgieva)
- [African
Century](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2023/09/PT-african-century)
- [podcast](https://www.imf.org/en/News/Podcasts/All-Podcasts/2024/04/23/AFR-REO-April-2024)

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2024/04/25/sub-saharan-africas-growth-requires-quality-education-for-growing-population_