Tags: Social Capital, demographic dividend, sub-Saharan Africa

`The future is great, it looks very bright for the African continent, and if there was ever a time when Africa can definitely be said to be on the rise, this is the time. This is Africa's century…’ – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, quoted by Pomeroy and Bruce-Lockhart, 2019.

With these words, the South African president echoed what has been said since the dawn of the new millennium by the likes of former South African president Thabo Mbeki (2003) and singer-philanthropist Bono of the popular band U2 (Cole, 2011), to name but a few. This view of Africa is not espoused by politicians and popular campaigners alone. When demo-graphers and economists look at sub-Saharan Africa’s population tra-jectory, they see the potential of a demographic dividend that can elevate the prospects of this continent to new levels of prosperity (Sayeh & Selassie, 2015). However, the benefits of a demographic dividend (see box: Africa’s potential demographic dividend) are not automatic, and the realists are quick to point out a list of conditions which, if not addressed, can push this demographic opportunity into a demographic disaster.

African Futures - Social Capital.pdf