Following Africa Day and the end of Africa Month (May 2023), the Ichikowitz Foundation’s globally acclaimed African Youth Survey finds that nearly half (46%) of the continent’s young people have never heard of the historic, recently-declared African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as first negotiated by the African Union (AU) in 2018.
Despite the fact that AfCFTA is not widely known, there is a strong desire for African economic integration. The vast majority (55%) of individuals who are aware of AfCFTA believe the free trade zone will have a definite beneficial influence on their country, according to the extensive poll of Africans aged 18 to 24.
According to the Ichikowitz Family Foundation, realizing these hopes is dependent on African nations’ capacity to profit on the new trade zone.
According to the Africa Youth Survey, little over one-in-five young Africans (22%) are very or somewhat familiar with AfCFTA, one-in-five are skeptical that AfCFTA would make a difference in their country’s economic situation, and 15% believe it will make matters worse.
“During Africa Month, and in the midst of ongoing, seismically shifting geopolitical partnerships and conflicts with massive implications for our African economies, our leaders present and future are quickly realizing that we must look inward for economic opportunity; inward to fuel the entrepreneurial prowess that will catapult our start-up continent forward; and inward to address the lingering challenges that continue to motivate our brightest and best.”
Other significant findings include:
Rwanda (84%), Ghana (72%), and Mali (70%), are the three nations with the highest levels of current support for the AfCTFA among young people.
Sudan (24%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (23%), Congo-Brazzaville (21%), and Zambia (21%), are the nations where youth are most likely to believe the AfCTFA will have a negative impact.
Only 17% of respondents knew the name of the new trade zone – More than six out of every 10 young Africans in Sudan and South Africa have never heard of it.
Experts concur that, with less than 3% of global trade in 2023, Africa’s significant capacity for expansion begins with intra-continental investment. According to the African Union, the AfCFTA project aims to drastically ease conditions for commerce between Africa’s 55 states by eliminating barriers and promoting trade, which is expected to have a massive impact on the continent, its 1.3 billion population, and its estimated $3.4 trillion GDP.
If completely implemented, the Pan-African Pact may improve incomes by 9% by 2035, lifting 50 million people out of extreme poverty.
The African Youth Survey also reveals substantial support for free enterprise among the continent’s growing generation. A staggering 78% of respondents said they intend to start their own business over the next five years.
While 44% of respondents said they had contemplated departing to pursue better economic prospects in other countries, supporters of the AfCTFA, including the United Nations, believe the agreement’s full implications will transform this image.
“According to the results of this poll, future African business leaders will put meat on the bones of the African Continental Free Trade Area as awareness of the pact and the benefits it offers African economies grows.” The findings on African youth awareness of AfCFTA, combined with increased public education, will strengthen our next generation’s recognition of all that it provides them, and will ensure that Africa is on the right track when it comes to putting in place the conditions for more robust trade among ourselves,” Ichikowitz added.
The African Youth Survey, which was first administered in 2019, is a first-of-its-kind, in-depth examination of how young people on the world’s fastest-growing continent view themselves and the world around them. PSB Insight, a leading global polling firm, surveyed 4,500 young African men and women in Angola, Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda, and Zambia.
The African Youth Survey has become an established source for understanding the thoughts of Africa’s growing generation since its beginnings.
