Why is Africa so poor?

[legendbtc]

Personally , I think the two main reasons why Africa is poor are corruption and political instability.

Corruption and political instability go hand in hand and are at the root of poverty in poor countries, not just Africa. This is basic knowledge and the OP also made it clear that "corruption" is not an explanation he needs to know because it's something that no one doesn't know. What he wanted to know was the underlying cause behind it all?

Yeah, basic knowledge doesn't cut it when we're talking about centuries of people being taken advantage of. And how money and power still aren't distributed equally worldwide. Colonialism directly robbed those countries and their people. And these systems are still messing them over today, stealing resources and rigging economics so the rich get richer. It isn't just about some bad leader being corrupt or unstable. This whole thing is bigger than that.

Corruption in Africa is just the tip of the iceberg that colonialism wanted Africans to see so they would think that the cause of poverty was government corruption. But in fact, the root of what Africans are suffering is the consequences of colonialism that has been plundering and exploiting Africa since 1880, and they are still doing it today. Not only do they plunder Africa's mineral resources, they also cause illiteracy, seek to prevent education from reaching the continent, and further divide Africa internally...Because only then can they easily plunder without getting a bad reputation, even being seen as the saviors of Africa.

In general, Africa's problems are too complex and will not be solved soon because there are too many forces that do not want African countries to develop because if that happens, they will lose a huge source of resources and income. And not many people will talk about this instead they will focus on blaming the corrupt government and consider it as the cause of everything.

When it comes to poverty in a country, people almost immediately think of corruption and assume that it is the cause of everything. It's not wrong and it's not a secret either, everyone knows it, even a 3 year old knows it. Corruption is not the root cause of all problems, there are bigger causes behind it.

The problem in Africa and the persistent poverty is due to domestic politics being interfered with by external forces, empires and colonialism such as the United States, France, Britain...always trying to interfere and manipulate politics there.
As long as they continue to manipulate and interfere in African politics, Africa will never escape poverty. Politicians are just tools, they don't even have the right to decide their own fate, how can they save their people?

[Tungbulu]

Many African leaders have been brainwashed which is why many of e only thinks about their well-being without considering the well-being of the people. The white colonists are the ones control many of the raw material and African assets till today. They see the continent as poor, as people that need their financial assistance everytime since the stupid leaders can not work together and fix the continent. Greed has been the reason why African continent will remain poor if the leaders do not think straight and look for a way to make things work again and stop depending of financial assistance from the western world with conditions.

Yeah, I believe that Africa’s major problem is their leaders. Africa has all it takes to become one of the best continents of the world. And by All it takes, I mean the natural resources, the manpower and every other thing, but the leaders are just so greedy that they want all that resources into their pockets. When a new African leader in elected into government, rather than serving the people, they view it as their turn and opportunity to loot and steal as much as they can before their tenure is over.

[laijsica]

Many African leaders have been brainwashed which is why many of e only thinks about their well-being without considering the well-being of the people. The white colonists are the ones control many of the raw material and African assets till today. They see the continent as poor, as people that need their financial assistance everytime since the stupid leaders can not work together and fix the continent. Greed has been the reason why African continent will remain poor if the leaders do not think straight and look for a way to make things work again and stop depending of financial assistance from the western world with conditions.

Yeah, I believe that Africa’s major problem is their leaders. Africa has all it takes to become one of the best continents of the world. And by All it takes, I mean the natural resources, the manpower and every other thing, but the leaders are just so greedy that they want all that resources into their pockets. When a new African leader in elected into government, rather than serving the people, they view it as their turn and opportunity to loot and steal as much as they can before their tenure is over.

Poor African leaders are desperate to gain power and earn money, and their appreciation of the interests of the people of the country has decreased a lot when they are elected through voters. Before the vote, they try to influence the people in their favor. They have not yet freed themselves from the mentality of appeasement and subjugation that was prevalent among the people as a result of colonial rule. In the meantime, due to the lack of improvement in the quality of education, an educated population is not being created. People who are talented migrate abroad for higher education and stay outside the country for employment. Since a large part of the talented population does not return to the country, the country is becoming talentless, resulting in the poor becoming poorer.

Political leaders try to retain power by taking refuge in the former colonial countries and in return work for the interests of those countries. Instead of taking large scale measures to eliminate the poverty of the people, they resort to their own unlimited corruption.

[Agbamoni]

simply put though..
over 40 years ago western countries invaded africa(big agri). took over alot of fertile land and displaced alot of farming families
those families no longer had jobs or businesses and instead had to live in remote shanty towns far from their old homes and not near the water sources that now feed big-agri.

these shanty towns were then supplied with foreign aid as a compensation for being displaced. which also furthered the culture of not enabling those displaced to start new business. after all if they are handed bowls of rice for free why grow rice. and how can they then sell rice they grow if the foreign aid competitor is giving to them and neighbours for free

even things like starting a solar or well-drilling business is not required locally because international charity gives them solar and wells for free, so there is no real drive to start any business due to getting free handouts

yep 40 years later the free hand-outs are still happening which just means no chance to bootstrap and kickstart new farming/businesses in the new area's the displaced have settled.

..
similar things were seen in other places(poor countries not in africa).. like in haiti..
haiti did have solar and cellular businesses in haiti pre natural disaster.. but then the clinton foundation flew in with its american teams of solar and cellular businesses who provided all the haitians with solar and telecommunications to get them electrified/communicating again. the clinton foundation did not fund the local haitian domestic solar/cellular businesses to get back on their feet. but instead just gave away american solar/cellular tech to haitians. which killed off the possibility of haitian businesses getting back in action

also things like clothing and footwear. yep american footwear businesses that have 'ethical' businesses of sending shoes to poverty countries, ends up killing off the domestic business of footwear in those poverty nations

The western countries took their land not their mentality. Over this year's we barely see the western people in part of these African countries because most of them have all fled back to their individual countries. Main reason why they decided to explore the African nations in terms of Agri because they needed to know what type of soil was needed to produce every individual crops. They were smart enough to understand how those crops are being grown in this soil. Now they don't have it naturally in their country, but they have the ability to improve their coil nutrient to bear the same soil nutrients as the one in the African countries

Going back to their country they began producing all the crops they needed without going to Africa. Producing in large quantity while still selling some to the African countries and these people will buy.

My point is. The westerner never stopped chasing Agric even after leaving the African nation. But the African who have these resources/soil naturally are reluctant to Agriculture serious. They prefer buying from foreign countries what they can produce here. So, it is the mentality that change not the lands stopping them from doing what they once knew how to do.

[AlphaBoy]

The lack of eugenics.
The races that rose above the others rose from pain and suffering. Africans, on the other hand, never knew what pain and suffering were like back in the time.

1-There was more than enough animals, thus they didn't learned how to hoard.
2-Jungles with tens of millions of fruit trees, the fruit was rotting on the ground because no one picked it up and they didn't learn how to farm

The only thing they could ever do in their day is chuck their spears to hunt, nothing more, nothing less, but the colonialism really fucked them over.
White people brought new technology to the Africans, and this technology made their lives much easier and enojyable, which made their numbers grow. When the Whites first arrived in Africa, there were more animals than Blacks, as the African population didn't reach 100M back then. Africans never knew booz, tobacco, guns, or any luxury that white people invented or brought to them, and more importantly, they never knew why the Whites were giving them these things for some shiny rocks or toxic metals or anything that they never use yet they had it lying around everywhere

When the Whites left, Africans found their life easier, and they had new luxury things, but at the same time, they don't know how to create these things, and now their numbers have tripled, and the free resources Mother Nature used to give them aren't enough. That's why when the Whites left, the Africans starved to death (Zimbabwe is just an example), and now South Africa is on the way when they genocide the Boers.

Anyone who says slavery and exploitation is the reason is an idiot. Most nations on Earth have been enslaved at a certain time, and they do better than Africa after things get back to normal, not imdidtly but they didn't take an entire 100 years like the Africans.
The Celts under the Romans, the Levantines under the Persians, the Slavs under the Ottomans, the Native Americans under the Spanish, and the Anglos under the Norse, yet all these nations do better than the Africans before and now.
Africans either get their numbers back to less than 100M or pay the bill of the easy life their ancestors have enjoyed in such land.
Other than that, Africans have no other choice.

[Dunamisx]

There are rich countries and individual on the African continent and the same thing you will have to find out that there are also poor people on other continents too, because we cannot have a balance of them all, its only more being predominant in one region than the other, they are poor people living in the US and cant even afford to live and have a good life, while we have lots of rich fellows in Africa, the conditions that differentiates them from each other is their mentality, what they are thinking and acting upon determines where they belong, either to be poor or rich.

[Bushdark]

There are rich countries and individual on the African continent and the same thing you will have to find out that there are also poor people on other continents too, because we cannot have a balance of them all, its only more being predominant in one region than the other, they are poor people living in the US and cant even afford to live and have a good life, while we have lots of rich fellows in Africa, the conditions that differentiates them from each other is their mentality, what they are thinking and acting upon determines where they belong, either to be poor or rich.

I think we need to know that mit all African countries are poor, there are rich ones which have the money and all their citizens are doing well respectively. Many African countries are very rich but the problems boils down to mismanagement of the people in charge of the government and her policies. Corruption has made many African countries to look poor because of bad leaders and government officials that are only interested to stealing money for their personal interest. If bad government can be removed from Africa, I think their will be so many African countries that will be rich and self reliance.

[Dulen007]

One of the reason Africa is considered poor despite being the richest continent out of the seven can easily be traced down to, "Corruption and bad Governance".
African leaders sees corruption as a major means of lively hood and since the government is not working up to its standard, the continent is growing poorer each passing day.

[Y3shot]

There are rich countries and individual on the African continent and the same thing you will have to find out that there are also poor people on other continents too, because we cannot have a balance of them all, its only more being predominant in one region than the other, they are poor people living in the US and cant even afford to live and have a good life, while we have lots of rich fellows in Africa, the conditions that differentiates them from each other is their mentality, what they are thinking and acting upon determines where they belong, either to be poor or rich.

There are poor people in other continent and their are countries that can be classified as poor in other continent but these are not extremely poor like some countries that are in Africa. I know Africa is fast developing and the continent is so to be far better than what it is right now, the problem that we have is that we have bad politicians,  if not for the bad policians Africa continent would have been so developed longtime before now.

[Juicyhome]

There are poor people in other continent and their are countries that can be classified as poor in other continent but these are not extremely poor like some countries that are in Africa. I know Africa is fast developing and the continent is so to be far better than what it is right now, the problem that we have is that we have bad politicians,  if not for the bad policians Africa continent would have been so developed longtime before now.

Its hard to defend the poverty rate in Africa mate, because its visible to the blind that Africans are living in objective poverty, without any hope of recovering from it, from generation to generation. In Africa there are no gods roads and steady electricity, poor network and insecurity as a result of poverty.

our leaders impoverished us so they can win election, the leaders contributed 100%  to Africa underdevelopment and high poverty rate, they know if Africans are rich or well developed most of the won't come close to power again, so the only option is not keep Africa in darkness and poverty.

[Reynaldo]

Africa's poverty is like a rugpull that never ends  perpetual exit scam by both internal and external actors tbh.
Let's be real  corruption isn't just an observation, it's a feature of the system deliberately maintained.

When politicians get billions regardless of performance (foreign aid) while simultaneously controlling resource distribution, they've basically created the perfect yield farm for themselves while the population stays rekt.

[Mehmet69]

In my opinion, the reason why Africa is so poor is a conspiracy. Africa is the second largest continent in the world. That is why big ruling countries want to occupy Africa. Africa was once a very rich country. White people can never match the height and strength of African people. But, African people are much more flexible in mind. And the ruling classes have taken full advantage of this flexibility. They can be enslaved very easily. One of the great advantages of which has been enjoyed by Western ruling countries.

The ruling countries have forced the African people to extract their own natural resources, but have not paid a fair price. In this way, they have gradually turned Africa into a country without resources. And they have hindered their education system. They have made Africans so resourceless that now foreign investment institutions no longer want to invest. In this way, over time, the basic needs of Africans have also been hindered. Later, they start using children to earn a living. They do not need to study themselves. The backbone of a nation is their education. But all ruling countries break this backbone of theirs, so that they cannot easily stand up straight.

It is because of all such hateful ruling systems that Africa is so poor today.

[laijsica]

Africa's poverty is like a rugpull that never ends  perpetual exit scam by both internal and external actors tbh.
Let's be real  corruption isn't just an observation, it's a feature of the system deliberately maintained.

When politicians get billions regardless of performance (foreign aid) while simultaneously controlling resource distribution, they've basically created the perfect yield farm for themselves while the population stays rekt.

Foreign aid allocated to the people while politicians consider their own wealth and pocket the wealth. Those people are responsible for increasing the level of corruption. Instead of helping the poor people of African countries, they are being guided by the shadow of external powers. Politicians have not been able to free themselves from these tendencies for a long time.

Politicians are often responsible for the corruption and embezzlement of large amounts of money, including foreign aid for environmental protection and foreign funds coming to financial institutions for poverty reduction.

[Nothingtodo]

One of the main reasons why most African countries are poor is exploitation by neighboring countries. Africa is rich in natural resources and cannot preserve and store these natural resources under its own supervision, which is why all these natural resources have to be controlled and maintained under the supervision of neighboring developed countries. Until Africans themselves become self-reliant, Africa will not be free, and unless Africa becomes economically independent, Africa will never be able to overcome its poverty.

[Uhwuchukwu53]

To leave poverty African countries need to have both political changes and cultural changes which allow them to get rid of those low quality leaders which are destroying the future of coming generations.

Africa's problem is very complicated. If the people want to get rid of a corrupt government, some external forces who have an interest in the resources of the country will begin to influence the elections. The US and its allies manipulated elections in my country and made sure that only their puppets won presidential elections.

If the people forcefully install the leadership of their choice. These powerful nations will result in sponsoring coups or conflicts to destabilise the government. Countries like Burkina Faso, Niger and a few others that decided to reject external influence have seen an increase in attacks by anti-government forces.

Except African nations get sincere or selfless support from some powerful nations, they might still remain in poverty. There should be a willingness to help Africa fight corruption and not to shield corrupt politicians by allowing them to launder money.

This just the summary of the whole happening in Africa and what has kept Africa in it's condition where we the citizens has no power to change it, mostly our brothers whom mind has been corrupted with the external body or forces due to your self mindedness of embezzlement and wrong policy, disobedience to laws and regulations, refusing put their house or nation in order before external influence, ethnicity and divide and rule by our people called African leaders which can be mitigated or cut of without external influence.

There is no doubt that Africa is influenced by many forces but the truth is that rat at home invite the external rat that they should come it's home as there is aboundant of food when ever both the leaders in Africa and it's citizens speaks one voice external body will know their stand a gives way it's Africa that is not ready and allowed the external body to used them my opinion.

[Hispo]

One of the main reasons why most African countries are poor is exploitation by neighboring countries. Africa is rich in natural resources and cannot preserve and store these natural resources under its own supervision, which is why all these natural resources have to be controlled and maintained under the supervision of neighboring developed countries. Until Africans themselves become self-reliant, Africa will not be free, and unless Africa becomes economically independent, Africa will never be able to overcome its poverty.

That is part of the technological dependence which exist between African countries and so-called developed countries from the north. For example, there are many countries in Africa which are rich in gold and other precious metals, but they do not count with the machines necessary to exploit those gold ores in a industrial way, thus why they need to either import technology or allow foreign countries to exploit those minerals in their behalf, receiving a percentage of the revenue.

Technological differences had always existed and it is one of the main sources of disparity between the global north and the impoverished south. When we learn how to develop our own technology and stop importing it, then Developing countries will be able to keep 100 percent of all of the revenue from their natural resources.

[Y3shot]

One of the main reasons why most African countries are poor is exploitation by neighboring countries. Africa is rich in natural resources and cannot preserve and store these natural resources under its own supervision, which is why all these natural resources have to be controlled and maintained under the supervision of neighboring developed countries. Until Africans themselves become self-reliant, Africa will not be free, and unless Africa becomes economically independent, Africa will never be able to overcome its poverty.

One thing you need to ask yourself how would neighbouring keep on exploiting.  I don't think this the reason , you need to ask yourself the same question, if you are to have a natural resources will you allow a stranger to exploit you just because you don't know much about it. The problem Africa has is poor management and nothing else,  if at all neighboring countries are exploiting the resources that belongs to Africa,  it is because Africans allows it

[Gozie51]

One of the main reasons why most African countries are poor is exploitation by neighboring countries. Africa is rich in natural resources and cannot preserve and store these natural resources under its own supervision, which is why all these natural resources have to be controlled and maintained under the supervision of neighboring developed countries. Until Africans themselves become self-reliant, Africa will not be free, and unless Africa becomes economically independent, Africa will never be able to overcome its poverty.

One thing you need to ask yourself how would neighbouring keep on exploiting.  I don't think this the reason , you need to ask yourself the same question, if you are to have a natural resources will you allow a stranger to exploit you just because you don't know much about it. The problem Africa has is poor management and nothing else,  if at all neighboring countries are exploiting the resources that belongs to Africa,  it is because Africans allows it

It is bad leadership and not just exploitation. Africa was exploited just like Asia countries but you can't compare the development of African countries to that of Asian countries, the difference is wide about and that is because there was proper planning and follow up on it. There are different vision statements for the future that African leadership has not followed but they have taken themselves back to those countries who colonized them because they are unable to stand on their own. Apart from few countries in Africa like South Africa, many other African countries have fallen into the net of neocolonialism leading to braindrain.

[uchegod-21]

One of the main reasons why most African countries are poor is exploitation by neighboring countries. Africa is rich in natural resources and cannot preserve and store these natural resources under its own supervision, which is why all these natural resources have to be controlled and maintained under the supervision of neighboring developed countries. Until Africans themselves become self-reliant, Africa will not be free, and unless Africa becomes economically independent, Africa will never be able to overcome its poverty.

One thing you need to ask yourself how would neighbouring keep on exploiting.  I don't think this the reason , you need to ask yourself the same question, if you are to have a natural resources will you allow a stranger to exploit you just because you don't know much about it. The problem Africa has is poor management and nothing else,  if at all neighboring countries are exploiting the resources that belongs to Africa,  it is because Africans allows it

Before poor management, there was exploitation. Africans were and are still being exploited. African soil produce gold but they don't have gold reserves in Africa. Africa produce crude oil and there's no oil reserve. Also coal and other mineral resources.
Africans were exploited and are still being indirectly exploited through their bad leaders who still and still launde to the foreign countries.
Exploitation;
Mismanagement
And
Corruption are all contributing factors.

[Y3shot]

One of the main reasons why most African countries are poor is exploitation by neighboring countries. Africa is rich in natural resources and cannot preserve and store these natural resources under its own supervision, which is why all these natural resources have to be controlled and maintained under the supervision of neighboring developed countries. Until Africans themselves become self-reliant, Africa will not be free, and unless Africa becomes economically independent, Africa will never be able to overcome its poverty.

One thing you need to ask yourself how would neighbouring keep on exploiting.  I don't think this the reason , you need to ask yourself the same question, if you are to have a natural resources will you allow a stranger to exploit you just because you don't know much about it. The problem Africa has is poor management and nothing else,  if at all neighboring countries are exploiting the resources that belongs to Africa,  it is because Africans allows it

Before poor management, there was exploitation. Africans were and are still being exploited. African soil produce gold but they don't have gold reserves in Africa. Africa produce crude oil and there's no oil reserve. Also coal and other mineral resources.
Africans were exploited and are still being indirectly exploited through their bad leaders who still and still launde to the foreign countries.
Exploitation;
Mismanagement
And
Corruption are all contributing factors.

For sure they were exploited before now and it is even still possible they are still being exploited even now, and if it still occurs because they give the chance to be exploited.  Let's take Burkina Faso for example,  before now their government have been mismanaging there resources and there resources was being exploited but today it is no more because they have a leader who understands what it takes to manage resources very well. When Africa is ready to do things right everything will be possible to accomplish right in Africa.