Social Security in Developing African Nations

Abstract

The image of Africa is changing. For centuries this dark continent has been known as a verduous land of jungle mysteries and teeming heat, of tribal dances and beating drums, moving in slowly ordered rhythm, guided by the hands of an invisible watch, yet responding to time as though the hands had stopped, the inner movements of the timepiece stilled. Today's headlines are shaping an image of newly gained freedom for 140 million Africans, of other millions still seeking independence from colonial domination, amid frequent governmental instabilities which so often accompany the early and uneasy steps of infant nations. Images change but the persistence of poverty pursues its stark and inexorable course. Like the Africa of old, New Africa is poor. In Tropical and Southern Africa, per capita gross national product is typically less than $2 a week, and in Upper Volta and Niger only $40 a year. Highest continental figures are found in Ghana ($223) and Rhodesia and Nyasaland ($181), unless South Africa ($409) with its larger white population is included. Since the end of 1959 sustained and