Africa’s Gains in Well-Being

Related Expertise: Social Impact, Economic Development

Africa’s Gains in Well-Being

The Boston Consulting Group, in partnership with the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative, has used BCG’s Sustainable Economic Development Assessment (SEDA) methodology to study sub-Saharan Africa. Instead of focusing on GDP per capita—the traditional indicator of a country’s general welfare—SEDA assesses overall well-being, a comprehensive measure of a population’s living standards that includes governance, health, and economic stability.

Among the findings: sub-Saharan African nations, despite current levels of well-being that are far below those of wealthier countries, are among the nations that are making the biggest gains globally. The study also highlighted the importance of effective governance, with advances in governance constituting the single largest differentiator between the sub-Saharan African countries with the greatest improvement in SEDA scores for overall well-being and those with the least.

Key lessons from the study were highlighted in an infographic that appeared in the November 2013 issue of “This Is Africa,” a publication of the Financial Times.