Today, 20 February, is World Day of Social Justice! It is an international day recognising the need to promote social justice, which includes efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, gender inequality, unemployment, human rights, and social protections. Here are 5 quick facts on social justice in Africa:
1. COVID-19 made things worse for Africa. The global COVID-19 pandemic has pushed more than 55 million Africans into extreme poverty and reversed two decades of hard work in poverty reduction on the continent (The Economic Report on Africa for 2021).
2. Unemployment has reached crisis level. Here are 10 African countries with the highest unemployment levels:
3. Africa is deeply unequal. The richest 0.0001% own 40% of the wealth of the entire continent. Africa’s three richest billionaire men have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population of Africa, approximately 650 million people.
4. The gender pay gap is at 30 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 24 percent globally including both the formal and informal sectors.
5. At least one in five Africans goes to bed hungry and an estimated 140 million people in Africa face acute food insecurity (2022 Global Report on Food Crises 2022 Mid-Year Update).
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