A High Standard of Living, Quality of Life and Well Being for All

The continent has registered notable progress towards realising Goal 1. Recorded at 56% of the 2019 target, the progress is largely explained by an increase in the proportion of the population with access to internet, growing from 21.8% in 2013 to 41.9% in 2019 respectively.

Africa registered a modest performance of 47% against the 2019 target on increasing access to safe drinking water. At the continental level, the proportion of the population with access to safe drinking water rose from 68.4% in 2013 to 77% in 2019.

The continent recorded a weak performance in increasing access to electricity, registered at 26% against the 2019 target, with a nominal increase in the proportion of households from 57.4% in 2013 to 62% in 2019. The weak continental-level performance notwithstanding, many countries are making notable progress through various interventions.

The period under review exhibited varied patterns in unemployment rates, especially among women and youth.

Well Educated Citizens and Skills revolution underpinned by Science, Technology and Innovation

While the overall performance on this goal was only 24%, the continent registered good performance in basic education, with enrolment rates increasing from 76.8% in 2013 to 80.8% in 2019, although falling below the 2019 target of 90.7%.

Overall performance of the continent on increasing enrolment rates in pre-school and secondary school was weak, recorded at 9.5% and 8.2%% respectively. Enrolment rates at pre-school and secondary-school level rose marginally from 39% and 25.7% in 2013 to 43.4% and 29.4% in 2019 respectively. In the same way, the 6.9% increase in secondary school net enrolment rates – up from 22.1% in 2013 – denotes a deficit of 85% from the 2019 target.

Healthy and Well-Nourished Citizens

The continental maternal mortality rates dropped from 341 to 269 per 1,000 live births between 2013 and 2019. In addition, the prevalence of underweight children under five reduced significantly in several countries.

The continent registered a weak performance in reducing the incidence of malaria, registering a score of 27% in relation to the 2019 target, with the incidence moderately reducing from 94.1 to 86.4 per 1,000 people.

With a continental performance of 54 % against the 2019 target, the weighted continental incidence of tuberculosis (TB) dropped from 189.5 to 158.5 per 1,000 people. Similar varied patterns were recorded in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Transformed Economies and Job Creation

The aggregate continental performance on the goal of job creation and transformed economies was weak, realising only 16% of the 2019 target. The proportion of manufacturing value added as a percentage of GDP fell in many countries during the reporting period.

The continental average on the proportion allocated to research and development as a percentage of public expenditure stands at 0.5%, falling below the 2019 target of 0.8%.

The continent performed poorly on the annual growth rate of real GDP targeted at 7%.

The continental value of tourism value added as a percentage of GDP fell below the expected 2019 target.

Modern Agriculture for increased productivity and production

While the agriculture sector employs over 60% of the working population and is regarded as the backbone for a significant proportion of countries on the continent, weak performance was reported; partly attributed to low levels of mechanisation, weak value chains, and heavy reliance on unpredictable rainfall. Notwithstanding the weak performance, some Member States have made concerted efforts towards increasing agricultural productivity.

It is noteworthy that the overall assessment of this goal is affected by inadequate data on the two indicators, namely agriculture total factor productivity and percentage of small-scale farmers graduating into commercial farming.

Blue/ ocean economy for accelerated economic growth

Africa collectively worked towards promoting and positioning marine resources and energy as critical elements for accelerating economic growth. The continental performance realised only 21% of the expected value in 2019, partly owing to the very low proportion of marine biotechnology value added to the GDP. Similarly, the fisheries sector value added as a share of GDP scored moderately and recorded 48% of the expected value in 2019. However, strategic interventions largely implemented by island states exhibited strong performance.

Environmentally sustainable climate resilient economies and communities

The continent made slow progress in increasing the proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are protected areas by ecosystem type – meeting 25% of the 2019 target. The importance that Member States attach to protecting terrestrial and freshwater sites explains the good performance recorded among some Member States.