Contrary to the views of the United Nations and World Bank, poverty and inequality in Africa have been rapidly decreasing, suggests a report by America’s National Bureau of Economic Research.
“Our results show that the conventional wisdom that Africa is not reducing poverty is wrong. In fact, since 1995, African poverty has been falling steadily,” according to Xavier Sala-i-Martin and Maxim Pinkovskiy, authors of the study, as quoted by the Guardian. “Moreover, contrary to the commonly held idea that African growth is largely based on natural resources and helps only the rich and well-connected, we show that a great deal of this growth has accrued to the poor.”