While adequate food and clean water remain daily challenges for millions of Africans, poverty at the household level – “lived poverty” – has declined in two-thirds of countries surveyed by Afrobarometer, newly released survey findings show.
In results published today (21 January 2016), Afrobarometer reports that in 22 of 33 countries across Africa, fewer citizens are going without enough food, clean water, needed medical care, enough fuel for cooking, and a cash income than three years ago. Lived poverty tended to decrease in countries that had made progress in developing basic infrastructure.
The report, titled “Africa’s growth dividend? Lived poverty drops across much of the continent,” is based on interviews in 2014/2015 with more than 52,700 citizens across Africa.
These insights into trends in lived poverty are particularly useful as governments, development partners, and activists forge strategies for achieving Sustainable Development Goals.