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Obstacles to progress

Challenges

African countries by median age (cont.)

Median
Country Ranking Years
Guinea-Bissau 190 20.1

Mauritania 189 20.5
Cote d'Ivoire 188 20.9
The Gambia 187 21

Ghana 185 21.1
Western Sahara 184 21.1

Namibia 183 21.2
Eswatini 182 21.7
Djibouti 168 23.9

Egypt 167 23.9
Lesotho 165 24.2

Botswana 161 24.5
Cabo Verde 156 25.4
South Africa 145 27.1

Libya 128 28.9
Morocco 123 29.3

Tunisia 107 31.6
Mauritius 77 35.3
Seychelles 76 35.4

Source : CIA World Factbook 2018 est

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Africa's youthful population has great significance for each country's development. One of
the most compelling commentaries on this can be found in "Africa 2050: Demographic

86
Truth and Consequences ." published by Hoover Institution. It is worth reading in full, but
the following are brief extracts :

“ Social science has made great progress in understanding the implications of rapid population

growth. We have learned that a significant number of social changes, including urbanization,
political instability, education, and democratization are all linked to changes in population
structure 192 .

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