Catalyzing Economic Growth and Job Creation
Featured
- PRESS RELEASE
Sub-Saharan <a href="https://absafricatv.com/unesco-mobilizes-west-africa-to-safeguard-and/” title=”UNESCO Mobilizes West Africa to Safeguard and”>Africa’s Growing Cities Offer Path to Millions of New Jobs
- FULL REPORT
- Website
Urban Development | World Bank Group
About
Sub-Saharan Africa stands at a pivotal moment. Between 1950 and 2025, the region’s urban population grew by 742 million people, and by 2050 another 748 million will be added, bringing its total urban population to 1.7 billion, by which time its urbanization will be almost complete.
Historically, rapid urbanization in other regions of the world has been accompanied by equally rapid productivity growth, along with structural transformation, that has fueled more and better job creation for their expanding workforces. This points to the potential that Sub-Saharan Africa’s rapid urbanization over the next few decades holds for the creation of the roughly 15 million new jobs per year that the region requires just to keep pace with its rapidly expanding young workforce. However, with average gross domestic product per capita stalled at around $4,400, Sub-Saharan Africa is at risk of missing out on these gains without decisive action by its national and local policy makers to address key constraints on urban performance and thereby take advantage of a rapidly closing window of opportunity.
This report identifies three basic types of urban areas—cities, their rapidly growing peripheries, and small towns—viewing these as distinct policy spaces. Recognizing the speed, scale, and urgency of the region’s urbanization and jobs challenges, the report places a strong emphasis on fit-for-purpose policies that can yield near-term results within the tight timelines that Sub-Saharan Africa’s urban awakening demands.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s urban population is set to grow from 913 million in 2025 to 1.7 billion in 2050, offering a time-bound opportunity to create the roughly 15 million jobs the region needs each year. Urbanization is already paying off: households in cities have significantly higher spending per adult than equivalently educated rural households, and the premium rises with city size. But the region’s cities perform far below their potential. On average, they generate nearly 50 percent less economic activity, measured by nighttime lights, than cities of the same size on the global frontier.
The report identifies one core challenge for each type of urban area. Sub-Saharan African cities lack accessible jobs-rich clusters. Its urban peripheries, which are projected to absorb much of the growth as the area of cities expands by 90 percent by 2050, are inadequately prepared for expansion. Its towns are small, still partly rural, and overlooked. The report recommends targeted investment in foundational infrastructure, regulatory reform, and policies to promote private capital mobilization for each, supported by reforms to strengthen urban governance and finance.
Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa has been rapid, but economic growth has been slow, and cities have not generated the productivity gains seen elsewhere. The report points to several reasons. Firms struggle to cluster in key locations because of limited foundational infrastructure, especially transport, and weak regulatory environments that constrain land access and development. One-quarter of firms in the region identify transportation as a major or very severe constraint, and only about 32 percent of Africans live within walking distance of public transport, which makes it hard for workers to reach jobs. Expansion at the edges of cities has been largely informal and unplanned, which fragments cities and raises the cost of infrastructure. Many towns lack the scale, connections, and services to support firms. As a result, too many urban jobs remain informal and low paid.
The report sets out three sets of priorities. In cities, investment and planning should be focused on well-chosen locations where firms can cluster, and workers should be connected to those locations through mass public transport, better integration of informal and formal transport services, and well-located affordable housing. In peripheries, arterial road grids should be planned and land should be protected for roads and services early, combined with reforms that help landowners pool and subdivide land, so growth is guided at relatively low cost. In towns, support should be tailored to economic potential: schooling and health should be prioritized everywhere, while integrated, place-based investment should be directed to high-potential towns, especially those along transport corridors. Because nearly half of the urban space the region needs by 2050 has yet to be built, the choices made in the next few years will shape cities for decades.
The report recommends that local governments act now on practical, cost-effective reforms while pursuing longer-term change. These include strengthening their own source revenues, for example by using low-cost digital technologies to modernize property tax systems, and reforming intergovernmental transfers to make them more predictable and transparent. Stronger revenues also improve a city’s creditworthiness and its ability to attract private finance. Public-private partnerships for the integrated development of key city locations, and for projects that pair urban development with special economic zones, can bring private investment into land, housing, transport, and services, since public funds alone will not be enough.
Supporters
