Urbanization usually leads to higher GDP because of higher levels of productivity, the report says, which is illustrated in the graph to the left [see the article]. All five of the East Asia and Pacific countries in the graph show a steady increase in GDP per capita as people move to cities. But that did not happen for Sub-Saharan Africa; the graph on the right shows a sporadic relationship between urbanization and GDP. Part of the reason may be because much of non-farm work in Africa is from microenterprises and household businesses that do not earn much. "These businesses make a significant contribution to gross job creation and destruction," the report says, "although not necessarily to net job creation and productivity growth."
With population growth rates being higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world, these are issues of global concern. Indeed, the front page of the World Bank website features a blog post by Wolfgang Fengler talking about the struggle in Africa to bring its life expectancy up, and a more hopeful story suggesting that Africa could feed itself if the sub-continent were to implement a variety of policy changes outlined by the Bank.
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