How Africa could one day rival China | The Economist

[Music] this is one of the most populous cities in sub-saharan Africa more than 4 million people live here among them eight-year-old Ida a coding wizard Emma bet test by the manager of a big flower farm and ass affirming Geshe a pioneer in Ethiopia's solar power industry all three illustrates how Africa's fortunes might change in the coming decades the continent faces many challenges including the recent spread of kovat 19 but in the long term there is reason to be optimistic by the end of this century Africa is set to play a much bigger role in world affairs the Asian growth miracle is likely to slow Africa's rapid rise could be next [Music] some 8 million natives whom the fights still look upon in the words of Rudyard Kipling as the new court sullen people's half devil and half child for hundreds of years Africa was dismissed by much of the rest of the world today Africa is too big to ignore it's population is growing faster than any other continent the UN predicts that by 2100 one human being in three will be African doomsayers worried about overpopulation they fear that the number of mouths will grow faster than the food supply and people will starve but the UN's population predictions may be wrong if Africa continues to grow at the expected rate its population will almost double by 2050 to two and a half billion people but in the second half of the century forecasts diverge depending on different rates of fertility the medium rate which the UN expects implies the population would almost double again by 2100 that forecast is based on the belief that the number of children each woman has were decline only slowly that underestimates the impact of education on girls like Ida my name is Ida I am 88 and a half years old my birthday is coming and live India at school either isn't a star student she loves learning and so do many other girls in Ethiopia primary school enrolment rates for girls increased from around 34 percent in 2000 to 81 percent in 2015 we acted education has a strong influence on fertility rates a woman with no formal education will have six or more children this full staff or if she finished primary school and - about - if she finished secondary school I want to go like this first time in Katy prep and then I go to grade one after 12 and then I go to high school and then I go to college and then I go to university according to one study if the rate of social development in particular the education of girls doesn't change the population of Africa will be as high as the UN predicts but look what happens to the population size if there's even a median improvement and development and if there is a rapid rise towards the end of the century the population will decline which means the more girls are educated the lower Africa's population is likely to be I'm telling you that girls could do anything they want everyone in Ethiopia knows that girls could do whatever boys could do which raise out car there both Ida's grandmother and mother were well-educated and have had successful careers educated women are more likely to enter the workforce despite being half of Africa's population women generated just 33 percent of the continents collective GDP in 2018 if women enter the workforce at the same rate as men Africa could add 10 percent to its GDP over the next five years and it's not just what girls like Ida learn in school that will affect Africa's economic future but what they learn outside school Eider is learning to code how many sides [Music] my brother wanted to code efforts he told our mom can we go to coding school and then she said okay I'll sign it up when we grow up we could be wonderful coders we can teach more people to cook goodness me with Olympus Ebola yeah I cook anyone can code nine time tomorrow but project manager me by discarding school was set up by better hand se who like Ida started coding at a very young age on my ninth birthday I asked my father for some money and he wouldn't give it to me we made a deal that if I made any money on the computer that we had I'll be able to use it to celebrate my birthday I would pitch my services which were basically editing their videos and storing some apps on their phones I made about $90 that day so I figured okay this is what I need to do so that's when I first started coding another more scratch I'm gonna scratch battle hem is just 20 years old but it already has a clear vision for the future of Ethiopia's tech scene artificial intelligence blockchain and a lot of other things are happening around the world this also will happen to us eventually so we need to be ready more than ever this generation needs to learn how to be smarter than the machines they're using but also have the skills to really be in the job market in the next five to ten years not everyone can code however to prosper Africa needs to create for your kinds of jobs [Music] at the Eastern industry zone outside addis ababa thousands of Ethiopians are arriving for their chefs the manufacturing park was built by a Chinese firm to house factories making textiles and shoes Ethiopia's manufacturing industry is a success story the value of its textiles and clothes exports tripled over the past 10 years and whereas manufacturing share of GDP is shrinking in much of the rich world in sub-saharan Africa has been growing since 2011 yet for all the positives the path to prosperity has potholes productivity is lower and exports are growing more slowly than expected employee turnover is high what's more covert 19 has men the borders have slumped in the past few weeks Ethiopia is unusual in Africa for its focus on rapid industrialization across the rest of the continent there's been an expansion into what are known as industries without smokestacks sectors such as tourism IT and flour family it's picking time Ethiopia's Highlands Laura Rose farm under the watchful eye of fur manager and abet Tesfaye federal butter Tara wood every day 80,000 stems are harvested from the farms 31 vast greenhouses to be exported all over the world the flower industry is new for Ethiopia it's really a challenging business because we compete with other countries to grow the quality you have to keep the start the international standard this is exported commodity it's helped us for the country for foreign exchange Ethiopia's horticultural industry employs 180,000 people it's Africa's second largest flower exporter after Kenya Emma Beth's farm employs almost 500 local workers most are unskilled laborers who are trained on the job I think it's good for the community because if the industry is nearby to them I think they get access to come and to work otherwise it will be really very difficult for the workers just to live and survive to help create jobs for their growing populations African governments are faced with the decision Lila so spider made Victor some think the quickest path out of poverty is to copy China to industrialize rapidly giving workers jobs and factories others reason the since China already dominates manufacturing the best bet is to do something else some see opportunities and services such as IT and industries without smokestacks such as horticulture regardless of the route Africans take they need to invest in technology Emma bets farm is run by a computerised system controlling temperature sunlight and irrigation how many waters would be perfect in total per hectare is around 40 with EQ this is smart agriculture ideas like this need to spread more than half of Africans make their living from farming it's highly unproductive although most Africans farm they generate just 15 percent of Africa's GDP that's because the way many people farm has not changed much for hundreds of years modernizing farming could increase yields to help feed rising populations it would free lots of farm workers to go and find better paid jobs in the cities for one of the biggest obstacles to successful agriculture or indeed other industries is Africa's poor infrastructure including its power supply in a compound outside Addis Ababa Machado is showing off her public shower rotini a magazine Tunisia interrogators would eat or dinner concerned animal system what is the first radish Ethiopia like many African countries is beset by chronic electricity shortages the bisciotti has found a way to keep her business running by using power from the Sun until the day it's too hard you know the solar-powered water heater was a gift from ass affirming Geshe the boss of one of Ethiopia's first companies to manufacture them people started coming to take sure they start coming from three towns around this area because there is no public shower in all of them people come in pain especially from thirsty up to Sunday she's busy she made a lot of money it makes money from the Sun as Affairs business also shows one way that Africa can help curb a global threat climate change Africa emits just 2 percent of global greenhouse gases but some experts predict it will be the continent that suffers the most from climate change Ethiopia is a growing economy when if a starts developing games establishes many industries then she needs industry energy Ethiopia has ample sunshine so why don't we take advantage of this the Ethiopian government is spending billions of dollars building a giant dam on the Blue Nile River to generate hydropower the ossifer is struggling to get investment into his business and is frustrated by bureaucracy Ethiopia is more readable especially in the last four or five years government organization talked about in terms of practice I don't know how far it went ultimately the key to addressing Africa's problems is better governance many countries have terrible infrastructure rampant corruption obstructed officials and occasional armed revolts but Africans have more political choices than before in the 1980s most African countries were autocracies thirty years later most have become substantially more democratic in 2018 a br mads became Prime Minister of Ethiopia we promised democracy infuse his work won him the Nobel Peace Prize yet what all this points to a more open Ethiopia the country could still be torn apart by ethnic uprisings you can read more about this by clicking on the eye Ethiopia is one of many countries in Africa that are making encouraging progress in the short term the continent may be severely damaged by covet 19 but in the long term there are good reasons to be optimistic more girls are going to school economies are growing and countries are adapting to climate change but to match China's economic success Africa can't just copy China it needs more competent and accountable governments that provide basic services uphold the rule of law and educate their growing populations if it does the next century could yet be African century you agree more of the economist reporting on Africa by clicking on the link opposite that will take you to the special report of Africa's future as well as our ongoing coverage on Africa and covered 19 don't forget to like us subscribe to our Channel and thanks so much for watching [Music]

Channel: The Economist

Views: 1,119,923

Keywords: The Economist, Economist, Economist Films, Economist Videos, Politics, News, short-documentary, africa, solar power, solar energy, solar panels, africa economy, africa growth, economy, economic growth, south african economy, how africa can keep rising, african economy, news, finance, how africa can get rich, ethiopia, ethiopian news, world news, china

Id: p8fl-u1UMVA

Length: 15min 36sec (936 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 07 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/assfly83]

The Economist could start by giving Africa their own section on their paper and website, instead of lumping is with the Middle East!

[u/OnionKa-help]

Africa is not a country like china, don't speak the same language, don't have the same culture, and westerners need to know this, some really think Africa is the same everywhere.

[u/andythemanly550]

That is kind of strange it uses China. If anything Africa would be more like europe where it’s a continental union instead of a single country

[u/life-is-bitch]

Guys, you notice they never say Africa can reach Europe or US level of development. They mostly use China. I wonder why?

[u/longwaters99]

When industry improves and we use all the clean power that we can get we can be like ten USAs

[u/thounotouchthyself]

How one day a continent could rival a country. Hmmm. Setting the bar low. Perhaps one of the 50 odd countries in Africa could rival China.

[u/confusedvuvuzela]

We are the future

[u/mimomilo]

If China knows how to take advantage in Africa, it can become the world's leading powers.

[u/NigerianGirl_99]

China has been recently trying to increases it’s influence in some African nations. For instance Mandarin is actually a requirement in some schools in Nigeria, and China, and China funds some African nations. Now I’m not saying that Europe doesn’t have any influence (for instance the French have a lot of influence in French speaking African Nations like the Ivory Coast), But I see that China is more low key about their influence. Also, I agree that China is a middle ground, I think that economically China is a very powerful player. If a country like the US were to do something to make China upset, prices for manufactured goods would increase exponentially because most manufactured goods come from China. First world countries rely of China for cheaper goods. Personally I just want African countries to stop getting compared and influenced by these foreign powers, I wish that we can be left alone without any influence. And I really don’t like it when journalist use one African country and just generalize everything. Not every African country is the same, fyi