Africa’s Combined GDP Is Nothing Compared to Other Countries

They say that Africa is one of the richest continents in the world. The continent has numerous natural resources such as minerals that have often ended benefitting other continents.

With so many natural resources, one expects the continent to lead others in terms of developments and better living standards among the inhabitants.

However, African countries have continued to wallow in poverty, diseases, and war and entirely depending on foreign aid and funding from other countries especially the United States of America and most recently, China.

World powers are struggling to attract the attention of Africa with ‘projects’ and other goods, not because they want to help the continent but because the continent has the resources that they want.

Africa has for many years been producing what the inhabitants cannot be consuming and consuming what the continent itself cannot produce.

Stats now show that the gross domestic product of Africa is nothing compared to other continents and other individual countries.

All African countries combined have a gross domestic product of 3.5 trillion US dollars. Germany alone has a GDP of 3.6 trillion US dollars while the Europe’s combined GDP is 18.8 trillion US dollars.

China, which is ‘generously’ giving Africa loans and taking up strategic investments has a GDP of 12 trillion US dollars. The United States of America, another strategic ‘aider’ of Africa has a GDP of 19 trillion US dollars.

The unemployment rate in Africa possess the greatest challenges to the economy of this continent. More than 60 percent of Africa’s population is made up of the youth with more than 80 percent of them being unemployed. Poor leadership and misplaced priorities among African leaders, most of the despots who do not care about the poor majority is to blame for the current state.

Africa is capable of feeding herself due to large volumes of fertile soils in most countries. This has always not been the case as millions still rely to relief food from other countries. The agriculture sector is greatly underrated and if nothing can be done about it, the continent will continue suffering.