Poverty in Africa

When talking about poverty on the African continent, the term poverty must first be defined. In this paper, the term is intended to encompass the generalised lack of the conditions necessary for an acceptable quality of life, with reference to socio-economic standards such as average life expectancy, birth rate, adult and infant mortality rates, the percentage of the elderly population, the human development index, the distribution of GDP per capita or the unemployment rate, which, when compared to European standards (given that African colonisation originated in Europe), illustrate the enormous gulf between the two continents and, at the same time, emphasise the precariousness of existence in the overwhelming majority of African countries.