The overarching objective of the World Bank's assistance to Sub-Saharan African countries is poverty reduction through sustained economic growth at a high level and improved social services. Past experience shows that a minimum level of educational attainment has been a prerequisite for the success of such a strategy. The current level of education development has been low, and the development of primary education has stagnated and even declined in some countries since the early 1980s. This paper examines the likely causes for deteriorating enrollment rates in Africa. It looks at the constraints in the demand for schooling and gives possible reasons for stagnation.

Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Analysis takes stock of education in Sub-Saharan Africa by drawing on the collective knowledge gained through the preparation of Country Status Reports for more than 30 countries.

Annotation Reviews labor market outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa and analyzes what is required to spur economic growth through increased efficiency of physical and human capital. "World Development Report 1995: Workers in an Integrating World" examines ways of improving labor outcomes in low- and middle-income economies. This regional perspective focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa in relation to the four areas in need of labor policy reform that were identified in the Report: development strategy, international integration, labor market interventions, and transformation to greater market orientation. The paper reviews labor market outcomes in the region and analyzes what is required to achieve economic growth through increased efficiency of physical and human capital. It examines Africa's role in the world economy and why greater integration is essential to the region. It also discusses labor policies and how workers in the region are affected by the transition to open development strategies. The prospects for the region's growing labor force are briefly reviewed.

This examination of changes in adolescent fertility emphasizes the changing social context within which adolescent childbearing takes place.

Despite a spectacular expansion of the higher education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, the supply of tertiary education has generally failed to keep pace with demand and the region continues to lag all other regions in terms of access to tertiary education. This is in part a consequence of deeply entrenched patterns of inequitable access to higher education, and the perpetuation of what researchers refer to as “elite systems†?. To date, access to tertiary education in Sub-Saharan Africa has unduly benefitted students drawn from the region’s wealthiest households, and overall enrollment remains disproportionately male, and metropolitan. These factors stifle the catalytic potential of higher education, corroding its potential for driving economic growth and sustaining poverty reduction. Instead, patterns of access to tertiary education have generally reinforced and reproduced social inequality, instead of eroding its pernicious social and economic effects. This report aims to inform an improved understanding of equity in tertiary enrollment in Sub-Saharan African countries, and to examine the extent to which inequity functions as a bottleneck inhibiting the ability of African universities to effectively drive improvements in overall quality of life and economic competitiveness. In our survey of the evidence, we also aim to identify which policies most effectively address the challenge of promoting equity of access in SSA tertiary education systems. In order to achieve these objectives, the report collects, generates and analyzes empirical evidence on patterns of equity, examines the underlying causes of inequity, and evaluates government policies for addressing inequity.

This book discusses current trends in contraceptive use, socioeconomic and program variables that affect the demand for and supply of children, and the relationship of increased contraceptive use to recent fertility declines.

This book offers an in-depth African perspective to the major issues in demographic discourse in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides comprehensive analysis of sub-Saharan African censuses, profiling demographic changes, trends, patterns and consequences in the region. Interdisciplinary, comprehensive, accessible, simple and topical, this volume is perfectly suited to researchers, students and lecturers who are interested in understanding sub-Saharan African population dynamics and issues.