Why Is Africa So Poor? Why is Africa still poor?

Africa is poor and there is no doubt Africa is poor but why is Africa poor? Poverty in Africa is not just emotional poverty. Poverty in Africa is not just psychological poverty. Poverty in Africa isn't just social poverty. Poverty in Africa includes absolute hunger with nothing at all to eat. Poverty in Africa includes death. Poverty in Africa includes extreme thirst with nothing to drink. Poverty in Africa includes HIV/AIDs, Malaria, cholera, typhoid fever, River blindness, sleeping sickness, etc., there are hundreds of thousands of governmental and non-governmental organizations helping fight poverty and hunger in Africa yet Africa gets poorer and poorer by the day.
Why is Africa still poor? If you go to Africa especially West Africa, you will get to know that Africans are very hard working people yet the poorest amongst the poor. Not that Africans are lazy.. Africans work all day under the hot sun yet a child dies every three seconds from extreme poverty and hunger.

what do you think? what are some of the causes of poverty and hunger in Africa. Why is it that Africans work hard yet remain poor?
why is Africa so poor?

[Jude]

There was an amazing program on TV this weekend where a man asked just that question, but widened out to include the whole world.

He pretty much decided that the natural resources of the part of the world has to do with how rich the people in that country are now.

For example, since the land that the US is built on can sustain so many animals that can be domesticated, then it frees up the people to not have to hunt to feed themselves. Because the land and the weather is so decent, then a lot of food can be grown, again leaving the people more time to do other things and to be healthy and not have to succumb to diseases that will stop them from achieving more.

I will search around and find that show.

I'm certain it was on PBS and that station usually has their programs onsite for everyone to watch when they have the time.

I'll be back with the info.

[sunshine4]

ARE YOU READY FOR THE ANSWER? (Will you handle it?)

Poverty is a curse, a curse that usually comes from God (Deuteronomy 28)
If you live a life in disobedience to God you become Poor, if you worship Idols and
are immoral you become poor and sick, and you die.


I know this sounds hush, but God is faithful and just, but this is blessing in disguise for both the African who is poor and you who has plenty, because God's heart bleeds for the poor, the bible says that "Lazarus was comforted when he died because he was poor while he was on Earth". and it's true that a poor man prays more than a rich man. but it's a blessing for him who has plenty too, because the bible says "He who gives to the poor is like landing to God, and God will repay him". So Africa not only has the most Gold mines in the physical, but it's a Gold mine for everyone who gives to it too.

and that is why Africa is still poor, God wants to see who has a Big Heart.

Originally Posted by Gloria

Not that Africans are lazy.. Africans work all day under the hot sun yet a child dies every three seconds from extreme poverty and hunger. what do you think?... why is Africa so poor ?

well that is a tough question.. Africans are not lazy.. we work all day under the hot sun.. yet we remain the poorest continent.. According to Nelson Mandela, poverty is not natural.. poverty is man-made.. the poverty Africans face today was created by man and may be can be eleminated by man.

[AngryCat]

poverty is not only the problem in Africa, its a major problem in all the third world underdeveloped countries and for me the reasons behind this poverty in all the third world countries are almost same.What i feel is that overpopulation,unemployment,illiteracy,social and cultural backwardness these are the major reasons for the poverty of these countries.Besides this there is a lack of interest from the part of the government of all these countries to take any affirmative step towards improving the social condition of the citizens of their countries.Being an Indian I am giving an example from my own country.The Indian government spend a whole lot of money in importing foreign technology.Indian industrialists also spend a huge amount of money in setting up new industries but from this only a section of people especially the elites and the urban upper middle-class people are getting benefits.The life of the poors remains the same.India is being called the developing country.But can anyone tell me what kind of development is this?I think the same thing is happening to all the African countries.Any country will remain poor unless the ray of development reaches to all sections of the society,be it the rich or the poor.

[LydiaB]

I think most of Africa's problems are a result of institutionalized racism.

As an African-American watching how the world responds to the problems in Africa, I know that many of the aid efforts are pushed for European countries over the needs of Africa even though the same aid can be used in both locations. Countless excuses are given for not acting to help African nations, yet the USA will throw money away in Iraq, even slanting the information to be sure the war is justified.

People of color must be valued more than they currently are by Euro-centric mentalities. Earth's First People will continue to suffer, unjustly, until this happens.

[AngryCat]

Untill you help yourself, nobody can help you.
Only Africans themselves can really change situation in Africa, the international aid alone is like giving fish to them while they really need fishing tackles. But it doesn't mean that the world community should stop humanitarian actions there.

[LydiaB]

Originally Posted by AngryCat

Untill you help yourself, nobody can help you.
Only Africans themselves can really change situation in Africa, the international aid alone is like giving fish to them while they really need fishing tackles. But it doesn't mean that the world community should stop humanitarian actions there.

So you will shift the blame back to Africa, where starving people would be expected to function on the same level as those who are well fed, and more able to manipulate the weaker population?

[maryelser]

Bika, how can you say that? That is really unfair. In 2006, Bush tripled the direct humanitarian and development aid sent to Africa.

[twocents]

I think a lot of it has to do with disease and the way other countries control what kind of meds and hep gets into the area. When you have a population that is so widely affected by diseases like malaria, something that we know how to control, yet overuse as a pesticide by other nations has cut off the supply of DDT, you end up with people who are too sick to work, take care of their families and provide their country with the economy and workforce that it requires.

With the further spread of other diseases the situation only gets worse.

[Indiescribe]

Why shouldn't it be? It had been subjugated by colonial imperialists who gave rise to the slave practice. The base of Africa was very poor and colonization didn't help. Today, it is wracked by internecine conflicts, resources are poor, corruption is rampant. Development Indexes are on the decline. There are only a few exceptions such as South Africa which has managed to prosper relatively.

[krrish]

Africans are hardworking.But the real problem is they're not getting proper education.So they're unable to utilise their mind efficiently to make money.Consequently,their technology isn't so good enough to utilise their natural resources.One major problem there is the poor communication facilities.All these cummulatively make them poor.

[BellaDC]

I think it is definitely a combination of many things. For some reason, Africa has just not had things made available to them that other countries have. Yes, they do have natural resources, but they also need to have decent healthcare, education, and acceptable living conditions to help them get things in order. I just think it is horrible that little children have to die and suffer there everyday.

[originata]

Africa is poor mainly because of colonialism. The continent was not left to progress and develop on its own. Africans were not poor until different Asian and European nations decided to take over certain lands and use the resources for their own interests at the expense of the people living there.

Imagine someone coming to your land and telling you that they now own the land and now you have to pay taxes on it (using their form of currency). That creates an instantaneously poor population.

[Simplyme]

I think you are largely dead on with your view but I also believe that it extends far past that. Personally I see so many different cards at play in what is actually caused and led to these issues. Under development where most other countries are on the whole over developed and far too saturated. Direction and resources play a big part in it as well as I am sure many other factors.

Regardless of what started it or why it has continued on in the same state and been unable to rise above we may never fully know but it is a sad hard fact. Breaks my heart to watch shows where a 4 year old lives alone and is expected to survive on its own because their parents have died of AIDS and the rest of their family has disowned them due to the AIDS. Really makes me sick to my stomach and honestly just as angry.

[arcel]

Originally Posted by Gloria

Not that Africans are lazy.. Africans work all day under the hot sun yet a child dies every three seconds from extreme poverty and hunger. what do you think?... why is Africa so poor ?

----

Africa is not poor! They have the biggest diamond mine in the world! They have the best beach and golf course resort!

The reason why Africa is poor is because of ethnic problems between themselves. All of the people in Africa wants to be a leader of a group. Like in mining diamonds. They have warlords that control a certain land using guns.

We all know people buy diamonds and Africa supplies it! Capitalist takes advantage of this situation that is why Africa is poor.

[twinkle88]

I think a countries poor or rich will completely depend on its leaders so called as politicians.
This is according to my view.
If politicians are not corrupted and if they struggle or atleast do some little work for the people who them, the country wil be good and the people in the country will also good, which may lead to richness.
If the politicians are not, then the country may not work well.

But regarding africa, I think it is not that much poor country.

[surat]

The Africans are assiduous. But the real problem is them 'about not obtaining suitable education. Thus they 'about incompetent to use their spirit effectively to earn money. Consequently, their technology is not to use their natural resources so rather good. A main issue there is the poor equipment of communication. All those make them cumulatively poor.

[originata]

It's amazing how so many people here are naming peripheral issues as the reason why Africa is in the state that it is in now. How come literacy, education, and diseases were not continent wide problems 300 years ago? You cannot diagnose the problem by treating the symptoms.

If someone were dying of cancer, they would not get better by taking cough syrup.

[flaja]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita

A country’s wealth per capita is not always determined by its geographic size or its natural resources. According to this data from Wikipedia Nigeria’s per capita GDP is 2,000 while Israel’s is over 25,000 even though Nigeria is a major oil-producing country and Israel is mostly re-claimed desert.

A country’s wealth depends greatly on how it manages its natural and human resources. I would venture that Africans are so poor because they don’t have a history of private ownership of property. If your society says that you have no right to own property, then you have no incentive to develop natural resources that property could provide and you are vulnerable to people from the outside who come from a capitalist tradition and are willing to exploit what would otherwise be your natural resources.

[flaja]

America has been a comparatively wealthy country for over a century, but most Americans either lived on a farm or had a job that was some how connected to agriculture until the end of World War II. Until then Americans didn't have the luxury of gluttony that we now have, but we were wealthy anyway. Explaining wealth in terms of agriculture productivity is too simplistic an explanation for wealth.

[flaja]

Originally Posted by originata

Africa is poor mainly because of colonialism.

Were Americans poor on July 1, 1776 because of colonialism? No. Colonialism does not automatically mean poverty. To my knowledge most of Africa was never subjected to colonialism as it was practiced in places like America and Australia. Most/all of Africa was subjected to imperialism in the fashion of Mexico and India, but countries like Mexico and India have not been all that poor in their post-imperialist history, so imperialism does not automatically mean poverty either.

[originata]

Wow, do you ever need to read a book or two. American colonization did mean poverty: for Africans and Native Americans so where are you getting your information from. Europeans colonized Africa and North America for their own gain while standing on the backs of the people who were already there.

Imperialism does mean poverty when forcing a way of life on people that is completely foreign to them. Meaning economic and social infrastructure was established to only benefit colonialists and their descendents and at the same time exclude the native people. How do they not wind up poor if they are excluded from profitting in this new way of life?

You are right. Ghanaians have a proverb that says " we do not drink medicine for the sick person" in other words, the sick person has to take the medicine so he or she can get better. Nobody can take in the medicine on behalf of the sick person. in this context, Africans are the sick people and we as Africans must take in the medicine in other to cure our illness. the only help the others can give us is maybe to provide us with the drugs but nobody can swallow those drugs on our behalf. It is time we come together as one people with a common destiny. As the elders say, our destinies are in our own hands and destiny they say is like an egg when it falls, there is no recovery. Our destiny is still intact and it is time to look up for ways and means of protecting it before it falls to the ground. The stubborn house fly that accompanies the coffin to the cemetry, enters grave. We speak to the wise man in proverbs not in plain language. He who has ears, let him hear. Thanks.

[DarkTimes]

Well the lack of a stable government seems to definitely contribute to this social problem.

Also, the lack of education and economical interests in the area seem to be important factors as well. People need education to progress and to overcome poverty.

[K1nS]

I feel the main reason Africa is so poor is due to the rest of the world taking all of its resources and giving nothing back. Africa has been exploited by the western world for 100s of years.

[evolva]

Originally Posted by Gloria

Not that Africans are lazy.. Africans work all day under the hot sun yet a child dies every three seconds from extreme poverty and hunger. what do you think?... why is Africa so poor ?

I think its because Africa is sacked by heavy corruption . the Seniors Use their services for a Low payroll and give them less . so what happens is that the rich keep getting richer and the poor getting poorer

Another reason might be the high illiteracy rate ???

[vivek]

Africa for one is not a nation per se.
It has been divided into various countries and each country for that matter has different sects. Meaning there are different ruling factions and warlords
The dark continent is rich in minerals and oil sources.
However the people of Africa do not know how to reap benefits from these resources.
When oil was first discovered in Africa it was thought that it bring an end to poverty, but look what has happened.
There are riots for oil, water, food in Africa.
The movie 'Black Diamond' also shows what happens in Africa. The diamond ring that you wear has seen a lot of bloodshed I believe.

[learn2ear]

LydiaB

Your answer makes a good point.
Also

Many of the African countries became republic in the late 20th century which is 20 or 30 years back. If India and neighboring countries which are independent from past 60 years are counted in third world countries then how could these countries can be developed. In countries like Zimbabwe, they have the worst economy, their 1000 dollars make 1 USD.

[zhar]

Africa per-se is poor because of vast poverty and lack of resources. Most of the resources were either stolen by Colonialists or were too little to start with unlike other powerful countries. Whatever less resources are there in Africa today are not utilized because of infighting between its own people.