AN ASSESSMENT OF THE TRENDS OF INCOME GROWTH, POVERTY, INEQUALITY AND HUMAN WELFARE IN AFRICA: NEW EVIDENCE FROM SELECTED SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES

MAJEKODUNMI, Waheed Oladipo¹(majeesky@gmail.com), ODUOLA, Oladotun Kabir²(oduolaoladotun@gmail.com) & AMBALI, Abiodun Kabiru³(ambaliabiodun6@gmail.com)
Department of Economics
Lagos State University, Ojo

ABSTRACT

Despite the recent decent performance in income growth, Africa remains one continent that has continued to be severely riddled by deep-seethed endemic poverty and excruciating income inequality thereby causing sharp deterioration in all indices of human welfare. This paper is an attempt to assess the income growth, poverty, inequality, and human welfare experience in Africa using recent empirical socio-economic metrics in selected Sub-Saharan African countries. The period under review is 2012 – 2021 and the study utilizes a quantitative research technique to assess how income growth, poverty, and inequality interact to influence human welfare in the selected countries. Evidence shows that income growth in African countries benefits the already well-off and that poverty, in fact, is severe and widespread and has a negative impact not only on the prospects of growth but also on even income distribution which is crucial for inclusive growth and sustained human welfare. It was further confirmed that poverty and poverty and inequality have risen and human welfare condition in Sub-Sahara Africa has plummeted over the decade across the region and when compared to the other regions and the world average. We found that within Africa and beyond most poverty is concentrated in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. We, therefore, recommend the following policy applications to stem the tides of poverty and income inequality in Sub-Saharan African countries, amongst others: shifting the focus of poverty-alleviation policies from income/economic growth as the primary driver of poverty reduction to policies targeted at decelerating inequality, placing greater focus on human development strategies to improve the quality of life and providing the appropriate institutional and macroeconomic framework to increase access to markets for the poor.

Keywords: Income growth, Poverty, Inequality, Gini Coefficient, Human Development Index.