Geography - Data Of Africa

Extractive industries

admin — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 10:54:39 +0000

Africa has the largest mineral reserves on the planet, globally 30% of the world’s reserves. This includes 75% of the world’s platinum reserves, 50% of diamonds and chrome, 20% of gold and uranium, 85 to 95% of chrome and platinum group metals, 85% of phosphate reserves, more than 50% of cobalt reserves, 33% of bauxite reserves (and coal, copper, iron ore, etc.), 10% of the world’s oil reserves, and 8% of natural gas reserves. What’s more, the continent contains many unexplored geological regions and, in addition to proven reserves, other future discoveries could therefore be added.

These riches were exploited during the pre-colonial period, particularly salt, gold and copper, helping to create rich and powerful empires. Then, during the colonial period, economies were highly specialized in creating colonial mining rents, leaving the new states after independence with extroverted and poorly diversified rentier economies (rentier state). Currently, the majority (60%) of Africa’s exports concern raw materials; Africa is therefore highly dependent on them. In addition, it exports its wealth without adding value to it, due to a lack of local industries. This is the Dutch disease: the rent provided by raw materials tends to undermine local industries, particularly manufacturing. The level of training of human resources also plays a role in African specialization because abundant resources and a relatively unskilled workforce encourage the export of raw materials (which is also the case for agriculture).

Between the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, activity in the sector increased significantly (87%); consequently, contrary to the global trend, the continent’s share of global extraction is growing slightly: 7.5% in 1980 and 7.8% in 2008. Foreign direct investment (FDI), which is increasing after reaching a low point in the 1990s and represents a significant share of the GDP of the countries concerned (the proportion ranging from 3.5% for resource-poor countries to 2.4% for resource-rich countries), mainly concerns the extractive industries. But this orientation of investments towards the exploitation of raw materials does not produce the development effects that the continent needs, particularly in terms of job creation.

The most important mining economies are Guinea (bauxite), Liberia, Sierra Leone and Botswana (diamonds), Mauritania (iron, oil), Niger (uranium, oil), Togo (phosphate), the Democratic Republic of Congo (copper, coltan) and Zambia (copper). The main sub-Saharan oil economies are Angola, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, South Sudan and Chad; in North Africa, Algeria and Libya also have economies that rely heavily on oil.

According to the International Energy Agency’s 2023 Energy Investment Report, Africa is the region that attracted the most investment in liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2022 after North America. The region is expected to maintain its level in the coming years behind the United States and the Middle East. Investments in refining in Africa are expected to exceed those in the Middle East in 2023, surpassed only by China and India, with a total of around $10 billion, or a quarter of global investments. The main oil and gas projects in Africa are TotalEnergies’ Area 1 LNG (T1-T2) in Mozambique (expected production in 2026 of 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent of LNG, worth $10 billion), NNPC’s NLNG T7 in Nigeria (expected 2024 production of 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent of LNG), TotalEnergies’ Tilenga in Uganda (expected 2026-2027 production of 1,055 million barrels of oil), Exxonmobil’s Area 4 LNG (T1-T2) in Mozambique (expected 2029 production of 925 million barrels of oil equivalent of LNG), BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim FLNG phase 1 in Mauritania (expected 2023 production of 915 million barrels of oil equivalent of LNG and oil), Waha in Libya (expected 2027 production of 775 million barrels of oil equivalent of gas), A&E Structures of Mellitah in Libya (expected 2025-26 production of 705 million barrels of oil equivalent of gas and oil).

The Democratic Republic of Congo estimates its reserves at 22 billion barrels and only exploits 4.5% of them; it has launched the auction process for 27 oil blocks. The Republic of Congo has just inaugurated its first gas liquefaction unit, which should eventually produce 3 million tons per year. Senegal plans to start extracting gas by 2024 at the latest; its three ongoing projects, GTA operated with Mauritania, Sangomar and Yakaar Teranga, have estimated reserves of 650 million barrels of oil and nearly 1,000 billion cubic meters of gas. Discoveries are multiplying off the coast of Namibia, which could double its GDP in less than ten years.

For more information :

The post Extractive industries first appeared on Data Of Africa.

The post Extractive industries appeared first on Data Of Africa.

Population Movements And Migrations In Sub-Saharan Africa

admin — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 09:10:17 +0000

Voluntary migration from sub-Saharan Africa is overwhelmingly internal, which is unparalleled on other continents. Three-quarters or more of sub-Saharan African migration is intracontinental. It involves 20 to 70 million people, depending on the source. Extracontinental voluntary migration is therefore a very small minority and, a fortiori, represents only a very small flow and stock of immigrants in OECD countries. As for North Africa, migrants from there represent 7% of the total stock of migrants in the OECD area.

Due to the conflict on the continent, in addition to voluntary migration, which is mainly economic (work, trade), there are forced displacements; internally displaced persons (in their own country) and refugees (displaced persons who have crossed an international border), numbered 17 million in 2014.

Population growth is accompanied by a massive rural exodus and a dizzying growth of cities. During the second half of the 20th century, the population of cities in sub-Saharan Africa increased significantly. This is, once again, a catch-up phenomenon, because Africa is the least urbanized continent on the planet.

Urbanization is massive, rapid, and poorly controlled, hence the prevalence of shanty towns; the new urban dwellers are essentially “poor”, from the rural exodus. In the city, inhabitants tend to group together by community, region, or village of origin, trying to preserve solidarity in the new urban context.

African society is therefore increasingly made up of young urban people, who are developing a specific culture which, thanks in particular to the Internet, is spreading internationally; this mainly concerns dance and music, zouglou, kuduro, etc. Young people are also the first to be affected by the intense intracontinental population movements that characterize Africa. But, exasperated by unemployment and poor housing, they are also the actors of a worrying urban violence.

For more information :

The post Population Movements And Migrations In Sub-Saharan Africa first appeared on Data Of Africa.

The post Population Movements And Migrations In Sub-Saharan Africa appeared first on Data Of Africa.

Africa: a geographical hiatus

admin — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 16:47:43 +0000

The size of the Sahara has varied significantly over time, primarily due to climatic conditions. By the end of the glacial period around 8500 BCE, the Sahara had once again become a green and fertile land. Rock paintings in the Tassili n’Ajjer, dating back to around 8000 BCE, depict a fertile and densely populated Sahara. Later, the warming and drying of the climate around 5000 BCE caused the Sahara to become increasingly hot and inhospitable. By around 3900 BCE, the Sahara underwent a period of desertification. A significant climatic recession occurred, leading to reduced rainfall in East and Central Africa. Since then, dry conditions have predominated in East Africa. The Sahara became a “climatic hiatus that plays a crucial role in the geographical partitioning of much of Africa.” This reduced the amount of land suitable for settlement and prompted migrations of agricultural communities to the more tropical climates of West Africa and the Nile Valley below the Second Cataract, where permanent or semi-permanent settlements were established. This migration facilitated the emergence of complex and highly organized societies during the 4th millennium BCE, as evidenced by the site of Nabta Playa. This climatic hiatus acted as a barrier to north-south movement; Pierre Gourou referred to it as an “isolating hiatus.” The Nile Valley became the primary corridor for movement, and Egypt followed a distinct developmental path from the rest of Africa.

The domestication of cattle in Africa predates agriculture and coexisted with hunter-gatherer cultures; thus, cattle were domesticated as early as 7500 to 6000 BCE in North Africa. In the Nilo-Saharan region, many animals were domesticated, including the donkey.

Agriculture emerged through a complex and multipolar process around 6000 BCE. Initially, Egypt adopted plants from Southwest Asia; later, around 2000 BCE, indigenous agriculture developed with the domestication of millet, African rice, yams, and sorghum.

Notable political entities were established even before the historical period.

For example, the site of Nabta Playa, west of the Nile in the Nubian Desert, was inhabited, albeit seasonally, from the 9th millennium BCE to the 1st millennium BCE. The basin where it is located was much more watered and fertile at that time. The site includes a significant megalithic field with astronomical purposes, dated to 6000–6500 BCE. The populations, who practiced herding, exhibited signs of a highly organized society, more advanced than that of Egypt at the same time. Examples include stone constructions above and below ground, villages built according to pre-established plans, and deep wells capable of retaining water year-round, as well as the astronomical knowledge necessary for erecting megaliths.

A little later, contemporary with Nabta Playa between 3800 and 3000 BCE, the Naqada culture (Egyptian predynastic period) saw the emergence of the first hieroglyphs in Abydos. The Abydos tablets attest to the existence of a political organization in the form of a kingdom; they mention King Scorpion I, who is believed to have ruled around 3200 BCE over all of Egypt and possibly beyond.

For more information :

The post Africa: a geographical hiatus first appeared on Data Of Africa.

The post Africa: a geographical hiatus appeared first on Data Of Africa.

Impact of climate change on africa

admin — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 11:04:28 +0000

Crossed almost in its middle by the equator and included for the most part between the two tropics, Africa is a hot continent, with an average temperature above 21°C nine months out of twelve. The intensity of solar radiation is constantly high. The climates, and the vegetation that corresponds to them, are defined according to rainfall variations rather than thermal variations.

Rainfall is mainly dependent on atmospheric movements occurring in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). The upward movement of moist air brought by the trade winds cools the air and moisture is released in the form of precipitation at the equator. This results in the humid equatorial climate closest to the equator and tropical climates on either side. The dried air then continues towards the northern and southern tropics, which creates an arid climate in these places, around the 20th parallels north and south. This corresponds to the Sahara in the north, and the Kalahari in the south. Deserts and arid plains also prevail in the Horn of Africa.

The lengthening of the dry season, as one moves away from the equator, characterizes the transition from the equatorial climate accompanied by dense forest to the tropical climate, which is accompanied by open forests, then savannahs where the dry season is intense. When the dry season is largely dominant, the savannah takes on a semi-arid character with, nevertheless, an intense but very short rainy season. This is the case in the Sahel, in particular, where the savannah dominates. Then, deserts appear near the tropics.

Finally, the Mediterranean climate characterizes the coasts of North Africa and the southern tip of South Africa.

The seasons, alternating between dry and wet seasons, are linked to the annual oscillations of the ITCZ. These oscillations are a major phenomenon for the continent because Africa does not have mountain ranges high and long enough to influence the climate on a large scale. Since most of the continent is under the influence of the ITCZ, Africa is extremely sensitive to its disturbances, particularly in West Africa, even when these disturbances are small. Thus, from one year to the next, the rainy season can vary in duration by up to 30%.

Annual and daily atmospheric temperature amplitudes are low in humid equatorial and tropical climates; they increase as one moves away from the equator and decrease near the coasts. Temperature extremes are much more pronounced on the ground where the temperature can locally exceed 70°C several days a year, without however reaching the world records recorded in the Lut desert or in Mexico. Africa, however, holds the record for hot desert area, in absolute surface area.

The official atmospheric temperature record is 55°C measured on July 7, 1931 in Kebili, Tunisia.

According to a scientific study carried out by several European universities, one in three urban Africans could be exposed to temperatures of around 41°C every day in 2090.

Position of the ITCZ in January (in blue) and July (in red).

For more information :

The post Impact of climate change on africa first appeared on Data Of Africa.

The post Impact of climate change on africa appeared first on Data Of Africa.

Physical geography of Africa

admin — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:13:06 +0000

With a land area of 30 million km2, Africa is the third largest continent. This area represents 6% of the Earth’s surface and 20% of the land mass. Separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, Africa is attached to Asia at its north-eastern end by the Isthmus of Suez (crossed by the Suez Canal) for 163 km. From its northern end, Cape Angela (37° 20′ 50″ N) in Tunisia, to its southern end, Cape Agulhas (34° 51′ 15″ S) in South Africa, the continent extends over approximately 8,060 km. From its western end, Cape Verde (17° 33′ 22″ W), to its eastern end, Ras Hafun (51° 27′ 52″ E) in Somalia, it extends over approximately 7,420 km.

Its coastline, which is not very indented, is 26,000 km long. The absence of deep indentations in its shore is remarkable; in fact, by comparison, Europe, which extends over 10.4 million km2, or about a third of the surface area of Africa, has a coastline of 32,000 km. That is 6,000 km longer.

The Sahara, Africa’s largest desert and the world’s largest hot desert, covers an area of nearly 8.6 million km2. The Sahel, a continuous strip of semi-arid tropical savannahs just south of the Sahara, covers nearly 2.7 million km2. Thus, the hyper-arid, arid and semi-arid regions of the Sahara and Sahel alone cover about a third of the total surface area of the African continent.

For more information :

The post Physical geography of Africa first appeared on Data Of Africa.

The post Physical geography of Africa appeared first on Data Of Africa.

Africa and Its galloping demography

admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 13:23:17 +0000

Estimating the African population before 1950 is a complex task due to the lack of reliable data during the colonial period and even more so, during the pre-colonial period. All figures before 1950 are estimates based on incomplete data and projections.

It has long been believed that the African population density before 1850 was low compared to other continents and increased rapidly with the onset of colonization in the mid-19th century. However, some researchers today argue that the population was relatively large and that its growth rate was low. From 140 million individuals in 1850, the population is thought to have remained relatively stable until 1920. After that, it increased more rapidly, reaching 280 million in 1960 and 800 million in 2000.

The impact of slavery in Africa before 1850 varied across regions. While African population growth generally slowed, slavery led to the decline of sub-populations in the most affected areas. According to Patrick Manning, the relatively low growth rates in the 19th century and the higher estimates of the size of the African population in the pre-colonial period imply that the negative impact of slavery on these populations was less severe than previously estimated. The nature of the populations subjected to slavery, often young and predominantly female, helps explain the impact on population growth.

The end of the slave trade coincided with colonial conquest. Colonial regimes, particularly those of France and Belgium, are believed to have caused population declines, primarily due to the spread of disease, often facilitated by both African and European colonial officials. In some areas, such as coastal regions, increased productivity led to increased population growth. During the colonial period, Africans experienced dramatic changes in living conditions, accelerated growth rates, abrupt changes in migration patterns, and the dramatic beginnings of urbanization. Life expectancy, though low relative to other regions, increased impressively. Between the ages of 20 and 25, in the early 19th century, life expectancy at birth had increased to 36.7 years for the period 1950–1954.

African population in the 20th and 21st centuries

Africa is the continent whose population in percentage terms has increased the most since the beginning of the 20th century and whose natural growth rate, with 2.5% in 2015, is the highest. Estimated at 133 million inhabitants in 1900, or 8.1% of the world population, the population of Africa increased in 1950 to 228 million, or 9.1%, then to 808 million in 2000, or 13.2%, and to 1.1 billion in 2012, or 16% of the world population. According to UN estimates, the population of Africa could be 2.5 billion in 2050, or 25% of the world population, and 4.4 billion in 2100, or 39% of the world population. Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia will be among the ten most populous countries on the planet by 2050.

However, this is only a form of catching up, since in 2030 the continent’s population will return to the proportion, around 20% of the world total, that it represented in the 16th century before the demographic traumas of the slave trade and colonization.

Age pyramid and its consequences

African society is extremely young. In 2004, one in two Africans was under the age of 20. By 2012, 70% of the continent’s population was under 30, and in 2006, 44% of the population was under 15.

This demographic growth is likely to have contrasting effects depending on whether or not we adopt a Malthusian and Afro-pessimistic point of view. Thus, in 2015, the World Bank presented a report entitled “The African Demographic Transition: Dividend or Disaster?” The report states that part of Asia experienced a similar situation before its demographic transition and the economic take-off of the Asian tigers. A positive example is that the concentration of populations in cities creates solvent markets for local agriculture. Or it can be noted that demographic growth is a benefit for the development of the mobile phone market, which was the basis for the continent’s rapid mobile banking that allows Africa to be the world champion of mobile phone payment. Population growth is therefore also that of domestic consumption and the economic development which accompanies it, notably thanks to the middle classes which are growing faster (3.1%) than the population as a whole (2.6%).

In this context, the demographic transition of the continent, which has begun in some countries (Kenya, Senegal, Botswana, etc.), if confirmed, is a potential opportunity thanks to the reduction in the dependency rate that it would bring about with a larger active population than that of the inactive. Some countries (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia) have already been identified as being on this path.

Malthusian positions, conversely, invite us to consider population growth as a burden by speaking of demographic suicide, arguing that the demographic transition is far from being globally achieved and that dependency rates are, for the time being, extremely high. Similarly, the investments, particularly in education, which will have to accompany the demographic transition to transform it into a real opportunity, are considerable. The population, in any case larger, will have to be crowded together because even if the overall density of the continent is low (36 inhabitants/km2), certain areas are uninhabitable, which means that in certain places in Nigeria, the most populated country on the continent, we see densities of around 190 inhabitants/km2 and 420 inhabitants/km2 in Rwanda, and that 62% of urban dwellers in sub-Saharan Africa live in precarious neighborhoods. Conversely, North Africa is the region with the lowest proportion of urban population living in slums (13%).

A key feature of the continent is that its undeniable economic growth benefits its people little. This is the concept of growth without development, proposed by George Ayittey.

Birth and mortality rates in Africa

The fertility rate (number of children per woman) for sub-Saharan Africa is 4.7 in 2018, the highest in the world. All countries in sub-Saharan Africa had a fertility rate (average number of children) above replacement level in 2019 and accounted for 27.1% of live births worldwide. By 2021, sub-Saharan Africa will account for 29% of global births.

Population growth is obviously linked to the fertility rate, which in Africa is the highest in the world with 4.7 children per woman for the period 2010-2015, compared to a world average of 2.5. While most African countries have a high birth rate, they also face very high infant mortality. In 2013, two African countries had an infant mortality rate of over 100‰ and 34 had a rate of over 50‰. Furthermore, the four countries with the lowest life expectancy in the world in 2012 were all African.

AIDS became the leading cause of death in Africa at the end of the 20th century. This was still the case in 2007, when UNAIDS estimated that 22 million people were infected in Africa. In 2013, out of 35 million people infected, 24.7 million lived in sub-Saharan Africa, 58% of whom were women. HIV killed 1.3 million people on the continent in 2009, but it killed 1.4 million in 2001. However, between 2005 and 2013, new infections fell by 33% in sub-Saharan Africa.

Infant mortality has fallen by 30% in 20 years and life expectancy has increased by 15.4 years since 1950. But in sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 8 children dies before the age of 5, compared with 1 in 143 in developed countries.

Health conditions are largely independent of the economy. Despite an income level five times lower, Ethiopia, ($573/inhab.450), thanks to its policy in this area, has better health indicators than Nigeria ($3,203/inhab.): infant mortality 47‰ (78‰ in Nigeria), maternal mortality 350‰ (630‰ in Nigeria). In the same way, aridity is correlated with malnutrition but, for political reasons, the latter is very prevalent in the Democratic Republic of Congo, yet one of the wettest countries on the planet.

For more information :

The post Africa and Its galloping demography first appeared on Data Of Africa.

The post Africa and Its galloping demography appeared first on Data Of Africa.