Five insights for building Africa’s inclusive prosperity

For 15 years, the World Bank’s Africa Chief Economist Office and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), coordinated by World Bank Publications, have worked together to bring evidence into policy through the Africa Development Forum Series. Across more than three dozen titles, this partnership has helped identify the reforms, investments, and institutional choices that can support stronger development outcomes across the continent.

Our partnership work comes at an important moment. Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy has shown resilience. Despite the tensions in the Middle-East during the second quarter, growth would remain solid according to the latest forecasts published in the Global Economic Prospects report, with the region projected to accelerate from roughly 4% in 2025 and 2026 to 4.4 in 2027. Yet poverty is not falling fast enough, and the absolute number of poor people continues to rise. The current growth model is not enough. Africa needs growth that creates more and better jobs, expands opportunities for young people and women, and strengthens the foundations for private investment.

For our final tribute to the 15th anniversary of this partnership, we share five insights from recent research that point to a practical agenda for Africa’s future.

Africa’s future depends on more and better jobs

The central challenge facing the continent is jobs. Africa will need a durable growth to generate roughly 25 million jobs every year between now and 2050 to absorb its rapidly growing working-age population. But the issue is not only the number of jobs—it is also their quality. Today, more than 80 percent of employment remains informal, limiting productivity, earnings, and economic security. Without a shift toward more structured, productive, and scalable enterprises, quality job creation will not happen at the pace required.

Growth in key sectors will drive quality job creation

Creating jobs at scale requires sustained growth in sectors with strong employment potential. Africa’s growth challenge remains deeply structural: insufficient investment, productivity, and firm expansion continue to constrain transformation. The evidence points to a pragmatic, ecosystem-based approach that aligns policy tools with country capabilities rather than relying on one-size-fits-all models.

Economic research highlights several sectors with significant potential to generate large-scale employment, including the agricultural sector, mining, housing and construction, and services such as tourism, hospitality and the digital economy. These sectors can become engines of inclusive growth when investments in infrastructure and human capital are paired with reforms that enable private enterprise to expand, compete, and innovate. Supporting anchor firms, fostering competition, and strengthening institutional capacity will be critical to unlocking this potential.

Good governance is essential to inclusive prosperity

Sustained growth and job creation ultimately depend on strong institutions and public trust. Across the continent, citizens are demanding better governance, better services, and greater economic opportunity. Political protests have risen steadily over the past decade in response to concerns about unemployment, public service quality, taxation, and accountability.

Restoring trust requires efficient public spending, transparent market regulation, capable institutions, and accountable governance. These are not only governance goals—they are also economic imperatives. Effective institutions are essential for attracting investment, delivering infrastructure, supporting businesses, and creating the conditions for broad-based job growth.

Regional integration can accelerate structural transformation

Regional integration can help amplify these gains by expanding markets, lowering production constraints, and supporting industrialization. Although Africa trades as much as East Asia relative to GDP, it has not experienced the same degree of structural transformation because exports remain concentrated in raw commodities destined for external markets. Intra-African trade—which is typically more diversified and manufacturing-intensive—still represents only 15 to 20 percent of total trade.

Research from Integrating Africa: From Threads to Hubs shows that regional integration is not simply desirable; it is increasingly necessary for transformation. Regional production networks can expand the frontier of feasible industrialization by enabling countries to specialize, connect supply chains, and access larger markets that would be difficult to achieve individually. The African Continental Free Trade Area provides an opportunity to accelerate this process and support the emergence of regionally integrated industries.

Migration can become an opportunity for prosperity

Migration is often viewed as a challenge, but it can also become an important source of opportunity for Africa and the world when well-managed. Most African migrants remain within the continent, with movement concentrated inside regional economic communities. Migration is largely driven by the search for economic opportunity, safety, and resilience.

Africa is entering a moment of major demographic change. By 2050, the continent’s workforce is expected to increase by 600 million people, while labor forces in many higher-income economies will shrink. Private capital will remain abundant in most high-income countries. This double divergence creates an opportunity to better connect Africa to other continents. Stronger migration management systems, investments in skills, and greater regional mobility can help migration contribute more effectively to livelihoods, productivity, and economic transformation.