Africa Rising

A market in Nigeria; Africa Rising is particularly associated with the growth of local entrepreneurship

Africa Rising is a term coined to describe the rapid economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 and the belief in the inevitability of further, rapid development on the continent. According to The Financial Times, Africa Rising is a "narrative that improved governance means the continent is almost predestined to enjoy a long period of mid-to-high single-digit economic growth, rising incomes and an emerging middle class." It has been particularly associated with the democratisation of African states since the end of the Cold War, comparative peace, greater availability of mobile phones and the Internet, and increase in African consumer spending as well as a growth in entrepreneurship. In the decade between 2005 and 2015, the economy of Africa as a whole increased by 50 per cent in contrast with a world average of 23 per cent.

The term is widely used (including by the BBC) and was the title of a 2014 conference held in Mozambique by the International Monetary Fund. Both The Economist and Time have devoted front-pages to the Africa Rising narrative. The term has been criticised by some as being a "stereotype" of Africa as a continent "brimming with mobile phones and energetic businesses". Critics have also argued that the narrative has been undermined by experience of the West African Ebola virus epidemic and the growth of conflict in some parts of the continent. Some have also claimed that the 18 million Africans considered "middle class" are too small a percentage of the overall population (3.3) to justify claims of rapid social change brought about by Africa Rising.

The term has also spawned a number of spin-off ideas, such as "Latin America Rising" and "Asia Rising".

See also

• Economic history of Africa
• African Development Bank
• BRICS, which includes South Africa
• MINT, which includes Nigeria