650

Million Africans are deprived of electricity

Limited access to electricity remains one the main drags on Africa’s development and prosperity and still traps millions of people in extreme poverty.

More than 650 million people (more than one out of two people) still live without access to electricity. This number is likely to significantly increase in the next decades, as the African population is expected to double by 2050.

12

Millions of young people enter the labour market every year

Young people below 35 represent more than two third of the sub-Saharan African population. Whereas the population is getting older everywhere else in the world, the youth of Africa could be an important economic opportunity for the continent.

However, most of them are largely excluded from economic processes. Unemployment hits badly the most qualified and underemployment is the rule for most of the less educated occupying informal and underpaid jobs.

With almost 12 millions young people entering the labour market each year, offering them proper jobs is one of Africa’s main challenges.

85%

 of the African population own a mobile phone

Africa’s digital potential is nowadays widely known.

Information and communication technologies have quickly spread across the continent. Today, 85% of the African population own a mobile phone and the continent counts more than 195 millions Internet users.

The amazingly fast diffusion of these technologies is the signal of the deep economic and social transformation that the digital revolution impulse on African societies.