Major cities Sub-Saharan Africa has several large cities.
Lagos is a city in the
Nigerian
state of
Lagos. The city, with its adjoining
conurbation, is
the most populous in Nigeria, and the second-most populous in
Africa after
Cairo, Egypt. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, and also one of the most populous
urban agglomerations. Lagos is a major
financial centre in Africa; this
megacity has the highest GDP, and also houses
Apapa, one of the largest and busiest ports on the continent.
Dar es Salaam is the former capital of, as well as the most populous city in,
Tanzania; it is a regionally important economic centre. It is located on the
Swahili coast.
Johannesburg is the largest city in
South Africa. It is the
provincial capital and largest city in
Gauteng, which is the wealthiest province in South Africa. While Johannesburg is not one of
South Africa's three capital cities, it is the seat of the
Constitutional Court. The city is located in the mineral-rich
Witwatersrand range of hills, and is the centre of a large-scale gold and diamond trade.
Nairobi is the capital and the largest city of
Kenya. The name comes from the
Maasai phrase
Enkare Nyrobi, which translates to "cool water", a reference to the
Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city is popularly referred to as the Green City in the Sun. Other major cities in sub-Saharan Africa include
Abidjan,
Cape Town,
Kinshasa,
Luanda,
Mogadishu and
Addis Ababa.
Population in Africa, 2006 According to , the population of sub-Saharan Africa was 1.1 billion in 2019. The current growth rate is 2.3%. The UN predicts for the region a population between 2 and 2.5 billion by 2050 with a population density of 80 per km2 compared to 170 for Western Europe, 140 for Asia and 30 for the Americas. Sub-Saharan African countries top the
list of countries and territories by fertility rate with 40 of the highest 50, all with
TFR greater than 4 in 2008. All are above the world average except
South Africa and
Seychelles. More than 40% of the population in sub-Saharan countries is
younger than 15 years old, as well as in
Sudan, with the exception of South Africa.
GDP per Capita (PPP) (2016, 2017 (PPP, US$)),
Life Exp. (Life Expectancy 2006),
Literacy (Male/Female 2006),
Trans (Transparency 2009),
HDI (Human Development Index),
EODBR (Ease of Doing Business Rank June 2008 through May 2009),
SAB (
Starting a Business June 2008 through May 2009),
PFI (Press Freedom Index 2009) Languages and ethnic groups drummers (
Niger-Congo) man (
Khoisan) women and children (
Nilo-Saharan) women (
Afroasiatic)
European African family (
Indo-European) Sub-Saharan Africa contains over 1,500 languages.
Afroasiatic With the exception of the extinct
Sumerian (a
language isolate) of
Mesopotamia, Afroasiatic has the oldest documented history of any language family in the world. Egyptian was recorded as early as 3200 BCE. The
Semitic branch was recorded as early as 2900 BCE in the form of the
Akkadian language of Mesopotamia (
Assyria and
Babylonia) and circa 2500 BCE in the form of the
Eblaite language of northeastern
Syria. The distribution of the
Afroasiatic languages within Africa is principally concentrated in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Languages belonging to the family's
Berber branch are mainly spoken in the north, with its speech area extending into the Sahel (northern Mauritania, northern Mali, northern Niger). The
Cushitic branch of Afroasiatic is centered in the Horn, and is also spoken in the Nile Valley and parts of the African Great Lakes region. Additionally, the Semitic branch of the family, in the form of
Arabic, is widely spoken in the parts of Africa that are within the Arab world.
South Semitic languages are also spoken in parts of the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea). The
Chadic branch is distributed in Central and West Africa.
Hausa, its most widely spoken language, serves as a
lingua franca in West Africa (Niger, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, and Chad).
Khoisan Several languages included under the term
Khoi-San are indigenous to
Southern Africa and
Tanzania, although the
Khoi languages appear to have moved to their current locations not long before the
Bantu expansion. In Southern Africa, their speakers are the
Khoikhoi and
San (Bushmen), in Southeast Africa, the
Sandawe and
Hadza.
Niger–Congo The
Niger–Congo family is the largest in the world in terms of the number of languages (1,436) it contains. The vast majority of languages of this family are
tonal, such as
Yoruba and
Igbo. However, others such as
Fulani,
Wolof and
Kiswahili are not. A major branch of the Niger–Congo languages is
Bantu, which covers a greater geographic area than the rest of the family. Bantu speakers represent the majority of inhabitants in southern, central and southeastern Africa, though
San,
Pygmy, and
Nilotic groups, respectively, can also be found in those regions. Bantu-speakers can also be found in parts of
Central Africa such as
Gabon,
Equatorial Guinea, and southern
Cameroon.
Swahili, a Bantu language with many
Arabic,
Persian, and other Middle Eastern and South Asian
loan words, developed as a
lingua franca for trade between the different peoples in southeastern Africa. In the
Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa, the distinct people known as Bushmen (also "San", closely related to, but distinct from "
Hottentots") have long been present. The San evince unique physical traits, and are the indigenous people of southern Africa. Pygmies are the pre-Bantu indigenous peoples of Central Africa.
Nilo-Saharan The
Nilo-Saharan languages are concentrated in the upper parts of the
Chari and
Nile rivers of Central Africa and Southeast Africa. They are principally spoken by
Nilotic peoples and are also spoken in Sudan among the
Fur,
Masalit,
Nubian, and
Zaghawa peoples and in West and Central Africa among the
Songhai,
Zarma, and
Kanuri. The
Old Nubian language is also a member of this family. Major languages of Africa by region, family and number of
primary language speakers in millions:
Genetic history Religion by country The principal religions of Sub-Saharan Africa are
Christianity,
Islam and
traditional African religions, with Christianity being the largest religion, and
religious syncretism being also common. African countries below the Sahara are largely Christian, while those above the Sahara, in
North Africa, are predominantly Islamic. There are also Muslim majorities in parts of the Horn of Africa (
Djibouti and
Somalia) and in the Sahel and Sudan regions (
the Gambia,
Sierra Leone,
Guinea,
Mali,
Niger,
Senegal,
Burkina Faso and
Chad), as well as significant Muslim communities in
Ethiopia and
Eritrea, and on the Swahili Coast (
Tanzania,
Mozambique and
Kenya).
West Africa is the only subregion of sub-Saharan Africa which has a Muslim majority population, and
Nigeria has the largest Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2012, sub-Saharan Africa also constituted in absolute terms the
world's third largest Muslim population, after
Asia and the
Middle East and North Africa respectively.
Traditional African religions are also commonly practiced across sub-Saharan Africa, with these religions being especially common in
South Sudan,
Guinea Bissau,
Mozambique, and
Cameroon. Traditional African religions can be broken down into linguistic cultural groups, with common themes. Among
Niger–Congo-speakers is a belief in a creator god or higher deity, along with ancestor spirits, territorial spirits, evil caused by human ill will and neglecting ancestor spirits, and priests of territorial spirits. New world religions such as
Santería,
Vodun, and
Candomblé, would be derived from this world. Among
Nilo-Saharan speakers is the belief in Divinity; evil is caused by divine judgement and retribution; prophets as middlemen between Divinity and man. Among
Afro-Asiatic-speakers is
henotheism, the belief in one's own gods but accepting the existence of other gods; evil here is caused by malevolent spirits. The Semitic
Abrahamic religion of
Judaism is comparable to the latter world view.
San religion is non-theistic but a belief in a Spirit or Power of existence which can be tapped in a trance-dance; trance-healers. Generally, traditional African religions are united by an ancient complex
animism and
ancestor worship. Traditional religions in sub-Saharan Africa often display complex ontology, cosmology and metaphysics. Mythologies, for example, demonstrated the difficulty fathers of creation had in bringing about order from chaos. Order is what is right and natural and any deviation is chaos.
Cosmology and
ontology is also neither simple or linear. It defines duality, the material and immaterial, male and female, heaven and earth. Common principles of being and becoming are widespread: Among the Dogon, the principle of
Amma (being) and
Nummo (becoming), and among the Bambara,
Pemba (being) and
Faro (becoming). divination and its four digit binary code ;West Africa •
Akan mythology •
Ashanti mythology (Ghana) •
Dahomey (Fon) mythology •
Efik mythology (Nigeria, Cameroon) •
Igbo mythology (Nigeria) •
Serer religion and
Serer creation myth (Senegal, Gambia and Mauritania) •
Yoruba mythology (Nigeria, Benin) ;Central Africa •
Dinka mythology (South Sudan) •
Lotuko mythology (South Sudan) •
Bushongo mythology (Congo) •
Bambuti (Pygmy) mythology (Congo) •
Lugbara mythology (Congo) ;Southeast Africa •
Akamba mythology (eastern Kenya) •
Masai mythology (Kenya, Tanzania) ;Southern Africa •
Khoisan religion •
Lozi mythology (Zambia) •
Tumbuka mythology (Malawi) •
Zulu mythology (South Africa) Sub-Saharan traditional divination systems display great sophistication. For example, the bamana sand divination uses well established symbolic codes that can be reproduced using four bits or marks. A binary system of one or two marks are combined. Random outcomes are generated using a
fractal recursive process. It is analogous to a digital circuit but can be reproduced on any surface with one or two marks. This system is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa.
Education 's Earth Science building in
Gaborone, Botswana Forty per cent of African scientists live in
OECD countries, predominantly in Europe, the United States and Canada. This has been described as an African
brain drain. Despite this, sub-Saharan African universities tripled between 1991 and 2005, expanding at an annual rate of 8.7%, which is one of the highest regional growth rates in the world. In the last 10 to 15 years interest in pursuing university-level degrees abroad has increased. Research on
human capital formation was able to determine, that the
numeracy levels of sub-Saharan Africa and Africa, in general, were higher than numeracy levels in South Asia. In the 1940s more than 75% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa was numerate. The numeracy of the West African countries, Benin and Ghana, was even higher with more than 80% of the population being numerate. In contrast, numeracy in South Asia was only around 50%. Higher diversity in Sub-Saharan African countries has been found to lead to a poorer economy. Researchers have argued that this is because of ethnic favouritism in their politics. Sub-Saharan leaders are more likely to provide better resources to their coethnic groups when in power. A study found that, on average, children of the favoured ethnic group are 2.25% more likely to attend primary school and 1.80% more likely to complete primary school. A 1% increase in GDP is associated with a 1.5% increase in the ethnic favouritism effect on primary school attendance. Sub-Saharan African countries spent an average of 0.3% of their GDP on science and technology in 2007. This represents an increase from US$1.8 billion in 2002 to US$2.8 billion in 2007, a 50% increase in spending.
Major progress in access to education in
Antananarivo, Madagascar At the World Conference held in
Jomtien, Thailand in 1990, delegates from 155 countries and representatives of some 150 organisations gathered with the goal to promote
universal primary education and the radical reduction of illiteracy before the end of the decade. The
World Education Forum, held ten years later in
Dakar, Senegal, provided the opportunity to reiterate and reinforce these goals. This initiative contributed to having education made a priority of the
Millennium Development Goals in 2000, with the aim of achieving universal schooling (MDG2) and eliminating gender disparities, especially in primary and secondary education (MDG3). Since the World Education Forum in Dakar, considerable efforts have been made to respond to these demographic challenges in terms of education. The amount of funds raised has been decisive. Between 1999 and 2010, public spending on education as a percentage of
gross national product (GNP) increased by 5% per year in sub-Saharan Africa, with major variations between countries, with percentages varying from 1.8% in Cameroon to over 6% in Burundi. As of 2015, governments in sub-Saharan Africa spend on average 18% of their total budget on education, against 15% in the rest of the world. Nonetheless, a lot must yet happen for this region to catch up. The statistics show that the literacy rate for sub-Saharan Africa was 65% in 2017. In other words, one-third of the people aged 15 and above were unable to read and write. The comparative figure for 1984 was an illiteracy rate of 49%. In 2017, only about 22% of Africans were internet users at all, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Health , Ghana Health challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa include
HIV/AIDS in Africa,
malaria,
neglected tropical diseases,
tuberculosis,
onchocerciasis,
maternal mortality and
infant mortality. In 1987, the
Bamako Initiative conference organized by the
World Health Organization was held in
Bamako, the capital of
Mali, and helped reshape the health policy of sub-Saharan Africa. The new strategy dramatically increased accessibility through community-based
healthcare reform, resulting in more efficient and equitable provision of services. A comprehensive approach strategy was extended to all areas of health care, with subsequent improvement in the health care indicators and improvement in health care efficiency and cost. . In 2011, sub-Saharan Africa was home to 69% of all people living with
HIV/AIDS worldwide. In response, a number of initiatives have been launched to educate the public on HIV/AIDS. Among these are combination prevention programmes, considered to be the most effective initiative, the
abstinence, be faithful, use a condom campaign, and the
Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation's outreach programs. According to a 2013 special report issued by the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the number of HIV positive people in Africa receiving anti-retro viral treatment in 2012 was over seven times the number receiving treatment in 2005, with an almost 1 million added in the last year alone. The number of AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2011 was 33 per cent less than the number in 2005. The number of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa in 2011 was 25 per cent less than the number in 2001.
Malaria is an endemic illness in sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of malaria cases and deaths worldwide occur. Routine immunisation has been introduced in order to prevent
measles.
Onchocerciasis ("river blindness"), a common cause of
blindness, is also endemic to parts of the region. More than 99% of people affected by the illness worldwide live in 31 countries therein. In response, the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) was launched in 1995 with the aim of controlling the disease. However, there has generally been progress here as well, as a number of countries in the region have halved their levels of maternal mortality since 1990. Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Mali have the highest prevalence of FGM in the world.
Infibulation, the most extreme form of FGM, is concentrated primarily in
Northeast Africa. National health systems vary between countries. In
Ghana, most health care is provided by the government and largely administered by the
Ministry of Health and
Ghana Health Services. The healthcare system has five levels of providers: health posts which are first-level primary care for rural areas, health centers and clinics, district hospitals, regional hospitals, and tertiary hospitals. These programs are funded by the government of Ghana, financial credits, Internally Generated Fund (IGF), and Donors-pooled Health Fund.
Ebola virus disease, which was first identified in 1976, occasionally occurs in outbreaks in tropical regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. The 2013–2016
Western African Ebola virus epidemic originated in Guinea, later spreading to neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone. ==Culture==