More Political Freedom Brings More Wealth, Says Study in Africa

African nations which expand their political freedoms also reduce poverty, according to a major new study published today.

In a survey of selected countries across the continent, the study also finds that between 2000 and 2008, poverty decreased in Cape Verde, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia but grew in Benin, Botswana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Zimbabwe.

The study was carried out by the Afrobarometer Network, a coalition of research institutions from Benin, Ghana and South Africa, working with partners in the countries surveyed.

In a briefing paper entitled "Poverty Reduction, Economic Growth and Democratization in Sub-Saharan Africa," the network released findings based on an index of what it calls "lived poverty" - poverty as judged by what basic necessities respondents to a survey have had to do without.

It found that in every country, survey respondents most commonly reported a shortage of cash income, followed by shortages of medical care, food, clean water and cooking fuel.

Calculating changes in 19 individual countries over time, it compared respondents' experiences in accessing water, food and medical treatment. Overall, poverty dropped, the study found, but there were wide variations between countries.

"Lived poverty remains extensive," the study concluded. "While most Afrobarometer countries have managed to reduce... [it], others have allowed it to increase."

Narrowing its calculations to a 10-country survey, the study said the largest reductions in poverty between 2000 and 2008 had occurred in Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Ghana, Lesotho and Malawi.

And the study said although Africa's wealthiest countries tended to have lower levels of lived poverty, this did not always apply. Rural Africans experienced more poverty than did urban communities, while in South Africa blacks experienced poverty at three times the rate of whites.

While differences between countries in national wealth and economic growth helped explain the findings, it added, "lived poverty is strongly related to... measures of political freedom, and changes in poverty are related to changes in freedom...

"The more a country expanded political liberties and political rights in a given period, the more it reduced poverty during the same period.

"As political freedom has increased in Zambia and Ghana between 1999 and 2008, levels of poverty have come down steadily. On the other hand, as political freedom decreased in Zimbabwe, Senegal and Madagascar, lived poverty has steadily increased."