It’s quite rare when the U.S. media has something nice to say about Africa. This week was an exception, in The New York Times, in an interactive digital article about the population growth and economic growth of the African continent.
The median age in Africa here in 2023 is just 19 years old, nearly a decade younger than in India and the rest of South Asia.
By 2050, more than 1/3rd of all youth on the planet will be African.
The U.N. estimates over 2.5 billion Africans by 2050, up 1 billion from today.
By 2050 that includes more Nigerians than there are Americans today, with nearly the same in the three core countries of the East Africa Federation, or more if that includes the DRC and South Sudan.
Historically, elsewhere in the world, this level of youth-led growth has been an economic boon. A “demographic dividend“. The first signs of that are already visible, with 10 of the 20 fastest growing economies of the world already located in Africa.
