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Poverty levels in East Africa diminishing rapidly – more join the new global “middle class”
African middle class family in Lusaka, Zambia. PHOTO/Georgina Smith/The Guardian
A raft of trickle-down economic policies adopted by East African governments to fight poverty seems to be bearing fruit with new global data showing that poverty levels in the region have significantly dropped.
The UN said in the Human Development Report (HDR) 2013 released last week that poverty reduction drivers in developing countries exceeded expectations, helping uplift hundreds of millions of the poor into a new “global middle class.”
Another report by Oxford University’s Poverty and Human Development Initiative ranked two East African countries, mainly Tanzania and Rwanda, among the “star performers” in fighting poverty worldwide.
The Oxford University think tank reckons the two East African countries could, if the current trend continues, eradicate absolute poverty within the current generation.
“The world is witnessing a epochal ‘global rebalancing’ with higher growth in at least 40 poor countries helping lift hundreds of millions out of poverty and into a new ‘global middle class.’ Never in history have the living conditions and prospects of so many people changed so dramatically and so fast,” said the UN Human Development Report. The report also cited trade as a key factor in improving conditions in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.
The Oxford report, which is based on the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), measures nutrition, education, sanitation and traditional methods such as gross domestic product (GDP).
It identifies Rwanda, Nepal and Bangladesh as the most rapidly improving countries of a 22-country study, closely followed by Ghana, Tanzania, Cambodia and Bolivia. It predicts that the “star performers” could eradicate acute poverty in 20 years.
East African economies have had poverty eradication policies but not all have worked.
When he came to power in 2003, Kenya’s out-going President Mwai Kibaki promised to roll out free learning both in elementary and high schools. The introduction of the twin social welfare plans was touted as the most effective social equalization program, opening the doors for children from poor backgrounds to attain basic education, however, a recent report (May 2012) by the World Bank has revealed that Kenya’s poverty levels have oscillated between 44 and 46 percent.
Rwanda on the other hand has achieved remarkable recovery and progress, characterized by reduced poverty numbers, government data shows. In the aftermath of the 1994 genocide, Rwanda was confronted with extreme poverty, with 70 percent of the population living below the poverty line in 1997. The government initiated the Girinka (one cow per poor household) programme adapted from the traditional Rwandan solidarity practice of giving each other a cow as a pact of friendship and support in the event of misfortune or dire need. By 2010, 44.9 percent of Rwandan households were considered poor.
Tanzania has been championing Mkukuta II to accelerate economic growth, reducing poverty, improving the standards of living and social welfare and push for good governance and accountability. Mkukuta II, like its predecessor, is a vehicle for realizing Tanzania’s Development Vision 2025. Government statistics show that 36 out of every 100 Tanzanians were poor in 2001 compared to 34 in 2007. Income poverty (basic needs and food poverty) varied, with the rural areas being worse off.
Uganda has more than halved the percentage of the population below the poverty line from 56 percent in 1992 to 24 percent in 2010, government data shows.
Read more: The East African