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Dense, overcrowded, congested, unproductive agglomerations… Breaking down these negative prejudices about African cities, such is the objective of the report on the “Dynamics of African urbanization” presented this Tuesday, April 26 by the Club du Sahel et de West Africa (SWAC) of the OECD, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
“For many still, it is the rural world that produces wealth and the city that lives at its expense, confirms Laurent Bossard, director of the CSAO. Today, only a small handful of African states promote an urban development policy. It is not a question of opposing the rural and the urban, but this continent is in the process of becoming predominantly urban: networks of cities are developing everywhere, which are transforming the whole territory. It is urgent to take this reality into account. »
Based on data collected from more than 4 million individuals and businesses in 2,600 cities in 34 countries, this report aims to bring to light “the economic influence of African cities”, which surpasses that of the countryside in almost all areas. Staff are generally better trained and better paid than in rural areas. The share of workers with skilled jobs in cities is between 41% and 50% for men and between 20% and 25% for women, compared to only 18% and 11% respectively in rural areas.
One of the main reasons: better access to education. Depending on the size of their city, young urban women and men benefit from three to five more years of study than young rural people. This “the considerable gap is not mainly due to selective migration, but to the easier access to education in cities and its increased importance in urban economies”, the report points out: “As education has a great positive influence on employment opportunities, health outcomes and other dimensions of well-being over a person’s lifetime, the economic and social benefits will persist for several decades. »
Electricity, running water and bank account
Another advantage of urban centers is easy access to services and infrastructure. Less than 20% of rural households are connected to the electricity grid, compared to 58% in cities with less than 50,000 inhabitants and 80% in those with more than 1 million inhabitants. Some 7% of rural people have access to piped water, compared to 25% of inhabitants of small towns and 33% in metropolitan areas.
Also, the percentage of individuals living in a household with a bank account is over 50% in large cities and almost 40% in small ones, but less than 20% in rural areas. Urban dwellers are also more likely to hold a birth certificate or be registered with the authorities, which speeds up access to the formal economy.
As everywhere on the planet, the larger a city, the more it realizes economies of agglomeration – as its size, services and infrastructures grow, there are more potential users – and the more it improves its productivity, which translates by an increase in GDP. According to an estimate “prudent” of the report, urban population growth contributed between 2001 and 2020 for about 29% of the average annual growth of GDP per capita in Africa.
And the continent’s rapid urbanization is also having profound effects on rural areas. Since 1990, the number of African cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants has more than doubled, from 3,319 to 7,721. Many cities have emerged, often in densely populated rural areas. In Africa, it is not the rural exodus that feeds the cities, but the villages that become cities simply because of the growth of their population.
More and more rural households live close to a city and can thus benefit from its economic opportunities, its services and its infrastructures. “For rural areas, cities serve as entry points to more connected and diverse economies, emphasizes Philipp Heinrigs, economist at the OECD. They offer markets where agricultural producers can sell their products and rural households access services and buy basic necessities. »
Today, 50% of rural people live within a radius of 14 km around a city and 90% of them within a radius of 47 km. “Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, knowing that the population will continue to grow, these figures will increase and should mechanically lead to a reduction in the relative share of poverty in rural areas”, notes Laurent Bossard.
“A powerful lever against poverty”
Even though Africa’s urban population has tripled since 1990, cities have managed to absorb the arrival of millions of people with no discernible decline in their overall economic performance or living conditions. “The rate of increase in the standard of living is equivalent to that of the increase in the urban population. Which is quite an extraordinary performance,” insists Laurent Bossard.
However, despite this positive impact, urbanization has not led to sustainable transformation of cities, observes the report. The share of skilled jobs in cities, for example, has remained constant. And the rate of ownership of durable consumer goods, such as cars and refrigerators, has increased little, if at all.
The report calls on African states to empower local governments with increased capacities and responsibilities so that they can sustain their economic development. “Today, African cities, except perhaps the capitals, are growing with very few resources and very little planning and suffer from a lack of investment, observes Philipp Heinrigs. The positive impact of urbanization on economic development will materialize more if it is accompanied by appropriate national policies, with real urban development strategies, a coherent framework and favorable financing systems. Governments should view urbanization as an opportunity and aim to share its beneficial effects with as many people as possible. »
In fact, in most African countries, local governments have only modest administrative capacities and their responsibilities are not clearly defined. Their financial resources are extremely limited (almost no access to credit, weak fiscal capacity, sporadic financial transfers from the State), which weighs on investments, whereas these would be economically and socially beneficial and would produce in the long term an increase in their tax revenue.
“Africa’s urban population is yet to nearly double over the next two decades, notes Laurent Bossard. But spontaneous urbanization will not make poverty disappear. There are and will be many poor people in African cities, even if they are on average less poor than rural people. On the other hand, reasoned and managed urbanization is a powerful lever against poverty. »