600 million Africans trapped in multidimensional poverty, UN warns

Nearly 600 million Africans remain trapped in multidimensional poverty while more than 582 million survive on extreme incomes, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said Monday, warning that weak financing, conflict and climate shocks are undermining efforts to meet global poverty reduction targets.

Speaking at a High-Level Political Forum side event at the UN headquarters in New York, ECA Executive Secretary Claver Gatete said Africa remains home to the world’s largest concentration of multidimensionally poor people despite progress recorded in several countries.

“At a time of weakening multilateralism and rising inequality between and within countries, African least developed countries need our support and must be a priority for Africa and the global community,” Gatete said.

The figures come as governments race to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with ending poverty ranking as the first global target.

According to the ECA, countries in the Sahel and Central Africa face the deepest poverty levels, with more than four out of every five people living in multidimensional poverty in countries such as the Central African Republic, Chad and Niger.

The agency said armed conflict and climate-related disasters have compounded poverty by displacing millions of people, destroying livelihoods and placing increasing pressure on governments already struggling to finance social protection programmes.

Some countries making progress

Despite the bleak outlook, the ECA said progress is possible.

Its latest analysis found that Liberia, Lesotho, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, The Gambia and Togo have reduced both multidimensional and extreme poverty over the past two decades, with some countries on track to halve multidimensional poverty by 2030 in line with SDG targets.

Gatete said those experiences should provide a roadmap for other African countries.

“Several African least developed countries are demonstrating that poverty reduction is possible. Their experiences should inspire and inform action across the continent,” he said.

The ECA urged governments and development partners to accelerate investment in poverty reduction through job creation, social protection and inclusive economic transformation.

It called for efforts to close financing gaps, create decent jobs for young people and women, strengthen social protection systems and improve measurement of multidimensional poverty to better target interventions.

“The eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions remains the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development,” Gatete said, citing the Doha Declaration.

The commission said stronger partnerships between governments, international financial institutions and development partners will be critical if Africa is to reverse rising poverty and meet the 2030 global development agenda.