{"id":1930,"date":"2018-09-20T19:06:58","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T19:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/?p=1930"},"modified":"2018-09-20T19:06:58","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T19:06:58","slug":"middle-classes-drive-up-life-expectancy-in-sub-saharan-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/subsaharanafricablog\/2018\/09\/20\/middle-classes-drive-up-life-expectancy-in-sub-saharan-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle classes drive up life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n

Middle classes drive up life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Improved nutrition and access to water among factors that have added 11 years to average lifespan in a generation<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

Sat 15 Sep 2018\u00a004.00\u00a0EDT<\/span>Last modified on Sat 15 Sep 2018\u00a004.01\u00a0EDT<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>A young girl is examined by a medic at a clinic in Tanzania. The UN\u2019s human development index shows an 11-year increase in life expectancy since 1990 in countries south of the Sahara. Photograph: Hugh Sitton\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

\n

People in sub-Saharan African can expect to live for 11 years longer than the generation that went before them, new statistics show.<\/p>\n

Factors including recovery from HIV epidemics, reductions in child mortality, improved nutrition and access to drinking water have driven life expectancy from 49.7 years in 1990 to 60.7 years in 2017. The number of years children typically spend in school has also increased across the region, growing 14% over the past decade.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0UN\u2019s annual human development index<\/a>, which ranks 189 countries on areas such as life expectancy, education and standard of living, found substantial global progress since 1990. But researchers warned that the progress made is vulnerable to threats including climate change, conflict and epidemics, as well as worsening living conditions among the middle classes.<\/p>\n

While inequality debates have been dominated by commentary about the wealth owned by the richest 1%, said the report\u2019s authors, this focus \u201crisks obscuring another growing concern in inequality \u2013 the decline and stagnation in the livelihood conditions of middle-income households.\u201d<\/p>\n

The middle classes \u2013 defined as the middle 40% \u2013 in countries such as Brazil, India and Bangladesh are \u201cthe engine of economic growth\u201d, according to Selim Jahan, the human development report\u2019s director.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s] a big group and that is also a group that tries to balance between bottom and top. It\u2019s a highly educated group, a highly trained group, where most of the entrepreneurship comes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Gender inequality was described in the report as \u201cone of the greatest barriers to human development\u201d. The study also warned of major inequality both within and between countries, which the authors said risked fuelling extremism.<\/p>\n

Over the past five years, Ireland, Botswana, the Dominican Republic and Turkey have experienced the most rapid growth across various development measures, the researchers found.<\/p>\n

Ireland is now ranked the fourth most developed country in the world, behind Norway, Switzerland and Australia. Its position was boosted by higher average incomes: the gross national income per capita in Ireland is $53,754 (\u00a341,199) compared with $39,116 in the UK, which is ranked 14th.<\/p>\n

Violent conflict in Syria, Libya and Yemen caused rapid decline in the development of those countries, as did the economic crisis in Venezuela. Niger was at the bottom of the development index, followed by Central African Republic, South Sudan, Chad and Burundi.<\/p>\n

Overall progress has slowed over the past decade, the report said, hindered by the global food, financial and economic crises of 2008\u201309. Limits to further advancement in highly developed countries \u2013 where measures such as life expectancy, which is now 79.5 years, cannot grow indefinitely \u2013 have also impacted rates of change.<\/p>\n

The degradation of the environment and atmosphere, coupled with significant declines in biodiversity, pose a profoundly serious risk to future progress, added the report\u2019s authors, who said the consequences of climate change range from \u201cdeclining food and water supplies to losses of livelihood and to losses of life from extreme weather events\u201d.<\/p>\n