Keeping or catching up? Population dynamics and education in Africa

Grace Chisamya, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
Adrian Gauci, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

Africa will account for 80 percent of the 4 billion increase in world population by 2100. A demographic transition with an increase in its working age population provides a window of opportunity which if reaped will lead to a “demographic dividend” from accelerated growth. In Africa, high fertility rates and declining mortality constitutes the driving forces of population growth. This has constrained a key element of the structural transformation agenda as articulated in the continental post 2015 vision and plan. The learning outcomes derived from educational systems are vital in improved productivity and adequate skill profiles necessary for transforming economies. Using secondary data this paper shows that keeping up with increased student intake has somewhat compromised quality of education and catching up with technological change and adequate human capital for transformation requires a closer analysis of population dynamics. Keywords: population dynamics, demographic dividend, learning outcomes, quality