The results of a poll carried out by the South African non-profit Ichikowitz Family Foundation, published Tuesday, show that corruption is seen as the main barrier to progress. Eighty-three percent of the respondents said that they were concerned about corruption and over 60% felt as if their government was not doing enough to combat it.
“It is strongly regarded that corruption is rife within political and civil institutions including government, business, and the police,” stated the report.
Perceptions of high levels of graft meant that 58% of respondents say that they are either “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to emigrate to other countries in the next three years, the most popular destinations being North America and Western Europe.
Two more concerns raised by the survey were the impact of foreign influence (72%) and the sentiment that foreign companies had taken advantage of the natural resources of respondents’ respective countries without the local population benefiting from it (65%).
On the other hand, this year’s African Youth Survey indicates that optimism about the future of Africa as a whole is on the rise, with 37% believing that the continent is heading in the right direction. In 2022, just 31% had a positive outlook.
The results differed significantly across countries. For instance, 91% of Rwandan youths felt optimistic about the future whereas only the proportion in South Africa stood at only 16% .
The 2024 African Youth Survey asked 5,604 young people aged 18 to 24 across 16 African countries, including Nigeria, Rwanda, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe.
The World Bank projects that by 2075 one-third of the world’s working age population will be from the African continent.