 Why is Africa still poor? What comes to mind when you hear the word Africa? We imagine it will be words like poverty, famine, walls, and diseases like Ebola, monkeypox, and malaria, or even malnourished children with flies buzzing around their faces for those who know little about the continent. More than 60 years after the majority of African countries achieved political independence, Africa is still struggling to keep its head above water. Africa's image deteriorated to the point where an economist labeled it the hopeless continent in 2000. With a bad reputation in almost every aspect of life, many questions arise, such as why Africa as a continent is rich, but her people are poor, resulting in a paradox of plenty. Stay with us until the end of this video to figure it out for yourself. Also, let us know what you think by leaving a comment in the section below. According to the World Bank, the international poverty line refers to those who earn less than $1.25 per day and thus live on the brink of extinction. The United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, uses the Human Development Index, HEI, to measure poverty in Africa and the rest of the world. To understand why Africa is still lagging behind, colonization must be judged harshly, akin to slavery, because there is no justification for the domination of one people by another. Said Reverend Lothys Sesshonore, professor at the Methodist University of Köt, Divwais Faculty of Economics and Management, and former consultant at the African Development Bank. Corruption. African political elites bear responsibility for the continent's poverty in addition to the egregious and long-lasting impact of past colonizers. As evil scourges, embezzlement and misappropriation of funds and resources, the scandalously lavish lifestyle of African elites, nepotism and tribalism, the desire to hold onto positions of power and rule for life, and the selling off of country's natural resources are major reasons the continent is so far behind in development. Growth of Population. Despite numerous prevention and education campaigns, African population growth is rapid. Developmental success and economic growth cannot keep up. As a result, an increasing number of Africans are living in poverty. According to a recent UNICEF study, Africa's population will double to 2 billion people by 2050. War and Crisis. In 2013, 11 of the world's 20 war-related conflicts were fought on the African continent alone, all in sub-Saharan Africa. This includes wars in Sudan and South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria-Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic, and most recently, Cameroon. Agricultural production usually comes to a halt in crisis areas. Many people flee are evicted from their homes and are reliant on outside assistance. As a result of these wars, poverty in Africa is increasing. Illnesses. There are numerous diseases throughout the world, but the most dangerous are concentrated in Africa. Diseases like AIDS, malaria, and Ebola are both the cause and the result of poverty in Africa. Diseases spread faster and cannot be treated in many areas due to a lack of education and inadequate medical care. The population's average life expectancy is decreasing, while the number of orphans is increasing. Labor shortages are especially noticeable in agriculture, resulting in lower food production. Unjust trade structures. Rich countries create unfair trading structures by shielding their markets with high agricultural tariffs and heavily subsidized agriculture. This slows agricultural development on the African continent, causing it to suffer from the start. With their policies, the governments of the United States, Europe, and other prosperous countries contribute to poverty in Africa. Inadequate agricultural infrastructure. Several African countries had the same GDP as Asian countries in the 1970s. Africa, to some extent, fell behind in the Green Revolution. Asian countries, on the other hand, were able to ensure food security through agricultural development investment. Roads, wells, irrigation systems, storage facilities, agricultural machinery, agriculture lacks both infrastructure and expertise in many African regions. That is why local self-help is critical in combating poverty in Africa. Once agriculture is secure, labor and capital surpluses are used to fund industrial and service investments, which serve as the economy's backbone. Meanwhile, African countries, particularly those in the sub-Saharan region, face critical challenges due to their proximity to the equator, which results in different land, climate, and weather conditions, as well as drought, flood, and a lack of farming experience due to the habituation of gathering and hunting. Cultivation becomes more difficult in the farming mindset. Influence of external factors. Privatization of national companies with capital poured in from Western countries was later labeled neocolonialism, resulting in the bankruptcy of local businesses, rampant unemployment, and a lack of output. Furthermore, these programs took a top-down approach rather than a bottom-up approach, which seeks solutions based on people's actual needs. As a result, these programs quickly failed, and the demand for democracy, which goes against multi-tribal grain, nature, traditions, has caused many African countries to become more divided than ever. Mismanagement of land. Despite the fact that there is a lot of arable land south of the Sahara Desert, small, individual land holdings are rare, the land is subject to tribal ownership in many nations. Many countries lack a system of freehold land ownership. Others prohibit people from disadvantaged groups from owning land at all. Although these laws are frequently disregarded and land sales to disadvantaged groups occur, legal title to the land is not guaranteed. As a result, rural Africans rarely have clear title to their own land, and must rely on farm labor to survive. Unused land is abundant, but it is frequently private property. Climate change. The relationship between climate change and poverty has been investigated. Natural hazards are likely to grow in size, frequency, and unpredictability as a result of climate change. However, the transformation of natural hazards into disasters is anything but natural. The severity of a disaster's impact is determined by the level of vulnerability present, the extent of exposure to the disaster event, and the nature of the hazard. The risk of disaster in a community is dynamic and will change over time. It is heavily influenced by the interaction of economic, socio-cultural, and demographic factors, as well as distorted development, such as rapid and unplanned urbanization. Africa is considered rich or extremely rich in natural resources because it accounts for more than 30% of the world's mineral resources, including gold, diamonds, oil, and gemstones. Tanzania, for example, is known for gold, Congo for copper, Namibia for uranium, and Botswana for diamonds. These are just a few of the reasons why Africa remains impoverished. Tell us about any other reasons that we haven't mentioned in this video. Thank you for watching, and please like, share, and subscribe to Africa Reloaded for more educational videos.