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

It really touched my heart to know that there are so much people in Africa whose lives are destroyed and face day after day poverty. I always pray that somehow a difference can be made drastically so that they can enjoy a normal life. As a wish deep from my heart i hope that i can one day visit Africa and make a difference in at least one person life. I know that God will grant me that gift and i will try my best to support saving africa.

Africa is poor because we are rich. Western business people exploit Africa to gain more and more power. The country is kept in chaos with help of western weapons, to avoid the development of a strong and independent nation.
We don't change anything until we start looking at the man in the mirror and change ourselves.
Regards,
Steve

Africa is poor due to its lack of bargaining power in the value creation chain. It relies on primary products as its major export, products which are themselves income elastic.

It`s all about hardworking and being with a peace of mind that you can make,

Poverty is not a punishment from God as some people think. God doesn't punish people by making them poor. If poverty is a punishment from God then what is your explanation for the rich but wicked people living in the world today? We are poor because we don't make the right decisions in life. We are poor because we weren't lucky like the others. You would be poor if you were born in a poor family. If your parents are poor, the probability that you will be poor is very high. In Africa for example, if your parents are poor, it means your parents can't afford to pay your school fees which means you can't get good education which means you will be poor no matter how hard you try in life. I will say poverty is fate. Some people were born to be poor and others were born to be rich and it is up to the rich ones to help the poor ones because we are all humans and you could be in the same situation.

Not every part of Africa is poor. Some countries in Africa are better than most countries in the western hemisphere. Take South Africa for example. South Africa is more advanced than most western countries. People think that Africa is just a country which is wrong. Africa is a continent of about 53 different countries. Not all the countries in Africa are poor. Some countries in Africa are doing better than most countries in the world

[Naomi]

One major contributor to the problem of poverty in Africa is the lack of communication. By lack of communication I mean the lack of common language and media of communication. America has over 52 different states but because there is a common language (English) which all Americans use, there is easy communication between people. Most South American nations if not all speak Spanish. Africa is so diverse in terms of language. In Africa, there are so many different tribes and each tribe has its unique language. One country in Africa can have as many as 700 different languages which doesn't permit easy communication between buyers and sellers and hence poor market.

[Islam]

too much foreign interference is doing more harm than good to Africa. too much foreign aids is making Africans not to depend on themselves. Africans depend on foreign aids for almost any major programs they undertake which is bad.

[roy.sinjini]

For a long everything that was happening in Africa was ruled by the colonialists and the local population did the simplest jobs. Now Africans have to make everything on their own. I think lack of such experience is serious trouble there.

Every problem has a cause or a starting point. The poverty in Africa has a starting point. By starting point I mean a point in time when everything began to go wrong. This point in time is the first time white people set foot on the coasts of Africa. Africa is poor because White people made them poor. White people took away all the riches out of the continent in addition to the able-bodied people who could till the soil and fight and defend themselves in times of war.

Despite the poverty level in Africa, if Africans come together as one people and work together, they can eliminate poverty within a matter of days. Take the FIFA Ghana win over USA for example. All the players came together and worked together as one team and at the end of the day they were able to defeat the United States of America!. Africans need to come together as one people and stop all the fighting and the killings.

[Marfo]

Originally Posted by BioGenesis

Despite the poverty level in Africa, if Africans come together as one people and work together, they can eliminate poverty within a matter of days. Take the FIFA Ghana win over USA for example. All the players came together and worked together as one team and at the end of the day they were able to defeat the United States of America!. Africans need to come together as one people and stop all the fighting and the killings.

That is exactly what we need to do. Africa is tired of all the bad images the western media keep publishing. Africans must come together.

pardon my ignorance but I blame America for all the troubles in this world.

[Liberian]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

pardon my ignorance but I blame America for all the troubles in this world.

It is not right to blame America for every problem in the world. I always blame people for their own troubles. If Africans refuse to work and go hungry then does it make sense to blame America for their hunger? NO. You can blame America for the lost of innocent lives in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine but you cannot blame America for the lost of innocent lives in Darfur because Sudanese are the ones killing themselves.

Some of the reasons why Africa is poor are: corruption, poor government, illiteracy, poor culture, laziness, and fate

[Frimpong]

people have said almost all i wanted to say but I will add this to the list. Africans we have to start thinking twice. We fight and kill ourselves and expect foreigners to come and help us. There is no wisdom in that. We vote for criminals to lead us because they promise us candy. There is no wisdom in that. We have to start thinking twice before it is too late

[Buah]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

pardon my ignorance but I blame America for all the troubles in this world.

and If I may ask, why do you blame America for all the troubles in the world? America did not cause the war in Darfur and America did not make Africans poor. You may blame America for lost of lives and the suffering of innocent people in places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan but you cannot blame America for what is going in Angola or Liberia.

[Namibian]

In my opinion our leaders are wicked. They think about themselves and their families and ignore the rest of the country. Anytime America and other donor countries donate money to Africa, the leaders share the money and use the money to build big houses and cars and chase young young girls while most people go hungry with no food, no hospitals, bad schools, no electricity, no good drinking water, and so many other problems which is very bad.

Our leaders our leaders. Africa is very rich but we have very poor leadership to lead us to the realization of our riches.

[Chukwuka]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Our leaders our leaders. Africa is very rich but we have very poor leadership to lead us to the realization of our riches.

that is exactly what I wanted to say. Our leaders are very poor-minded people. All they think about is money and fame for themselves.

[Katten]

Foreign Interference in Africa has both positive and negative effects. On one hand, foreign aids help alleviate poverty in Africa. However, because of foreign aids pouring in, most African countries are becoming lazy. they rely mostly on foreign donors to carry out major projects in their countries instead of relying on themselves and finding ways to solve the problem themselves. We must stop pouring foreign aids into Africa because that is making Africans lazy and independent. Let us stop interfering so much and let them figure it and solve the problem themselves

Africa is poor today because her people do not have the skills to develop her. Her People also never demanded real democracy. These failures of Africans and the reasons for them are described in the book To the Poor of Africa, Where are you Going? by XX Huguenot.

Originally Posted by Malawi

As an African I sometimes wonder what the west think of Africa. Africa isn't a country as most people are used to saying....

I'm sorry but those countries have much lower GDP per capita than most Western nations and have a higher percentage of people living below the poverty line. They are also far more politically unstable. And in terms of humanitarian issues, the situation is no less dire. South Africa has a higher rape rate than any developed nation. One in four men admit to having raped a woman and the violence against women in SA is astounding.

In regards to the main question which is almost painfully general seeing as Africa is such a vast continent, I think many nations in Sub-Saharan Africa in particular are poor due to corruption. The leaders fail to implement the things needed for the nation to prosper leading to bad infrastructure, illiteracy, high levels of crime etc.

Check out this video on Youtube, it's pretty good. And share it with the people you know. The student who made this made her teacher cry because it was so good :O
youtube.com/watch?v=E94ycBaXOMk

That's the link.

Corrupt Warlord Governments are the first issue. They will not allow outside influence. They steal aid money and they don't even allow hybrid corn to be given to the people because they think it's better to let the people starve than let them eat "evil" corn (as they see it).

Bad societal/cultural practices is the next issue. The corrupt government rapes the women, getting them pregnant. Their society believes in having as many children as they want - their society does not believe in any kind of birth control to prevent pregnancy. So between the raping and the cultural practices, they cannot stop producing children that they cannot take care of.

Bad economic practices are another issue. They do not have proper laws for ownership of property and land.

Poor education is another issue. Without education, the children (that survive) continue the same cultural/economic path their parents had and there are no improvements made in industrialization.

(This is just off the top of my head, so I'm sure there are additional reasons to add here)

[Time2Ball]

Africa is poor for the following reasons

- Lack of Education
- Lack solid Entrepreneurship in Africa
- Lack of Freedom
- Jealousie instead of competing
- Lack of initiative

* We only care about today
* Selfishness

But there is Hope in Africa and we are far from being curse. Soon the Kingdom of Africa shall rise and no one can't stop that.

I BELIEVE !