ABSTRACT

While the African economy continues to post impressive growth figures, there is another side to the continent’s renaissance: that of unacceptably high incidences of poverty and extreme poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence of rural poverty anywhere in the world (IFAD, 2010a). In 1988, one in eight of the world’s rural people who lived on less than US$1.25 per day resided in sub-Saharan Africa (IFAD, 2010a). By 2008, it was one in three people (IFAD, 2010a). Intriguingly, other regions have fared much better. While the percentage of rural people living in extreme poverty (i.e. on less than US$1.25 per day) in sub-Saharan Africa grew from 51.7 per cent in 1988 to 61.6 per cent in 2008, the incidence of extreme poverty in South East Asia (e.g. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines) fell from more than 50 per cent to about 25 per cent over the same period (IFAD, 2010a).