Pauvreté et récession dans les métropoles africaines et malgaches : Eléments de diagnostic

In a concern to go further than a simple static report and to address poverty in its immense complexity, this study analyses its evolution over a period of time in relation to the macro-economic and social dynamics at work in Africa. On the basis of a certain number of elements of analysis, illustrated by specific examples and backed up by figures, the document takes stock of the situation in the main African cities and assesses the impact of the recessionary trend on the populations’ standards of living. The first part of the study proposes an overall assessment focussed on two major trends: the prolonged recession and the rapid urbanisation of sub-Saharan Africa countries. It is quite clear that it is the towns that have paid the heaviest price in terms of the impoverishment of their populations. The second part deals specifically with the evolution, scale and characteristics of poverty in urban areas. The third part is aimed at understanding the process that has led certain households into a state of utter destitution. The study explores in detail the mechanisms that came into play in the African context as a result of the economic depression, and takes a close look in particular at the way in which the decline of the labour market affected the town-dwellers’ living conditions and how they were helpless due to the scale of the shocks.