HOW UNEQUAL ARE THE WORLD'S GOVERNMENTS?
The main reason why so many young people in Africa have no school to go to and no teacher to teach them is because African governments don’t have enough money.
Example: Madagascar
The island of Madagascar is beautiful, unique and has abundant natural resources.
Outside of Africa many have heard of Madagascar because of the $2 billion animated film franchise [1] (which keeps up the trend of using animals not people when it features Africa).
However, people may be less familiar with the lives of young people in Madagascar. The country has in recent years faced a severe food crisis seen by the United Nations as the world’s first ‘climate change famine’. [2]
The climate classification maps for Madagascar show a major decline in the temperate climate later this century (the green colours) which will be even more catastrophic.
Madagascar is net zero on carbon emissions and played no role in creating the climate crisis yet the number of malnourished Malagasy has already doubled since 2011. [3]
Malagasy is the term for people who live in Madagascar which isn’t said once in the film franchise [4]. There are now 11.8 million malnourished Malagasy, more than the entire population of New York where the films are also based. [5]
Most of those who are malnourished are young people who are also affected by the lack of schools and teachers. There are now 4.1 million children out of school in Madagascar (a number that has almost doubled since the final film in the franchise was released in 2014). [6]
This crisis affecting young Malagasy has become so much worse in the last decade and inevitably is creating political instability.
It will be difficult for any government to respond however because of the low government income.
In 2022 the government of Madagascar had $47 to spend per person in 2022 from its tax revenues.[7] How can a government ever provide education and health services with less than $1 a week to spend per citizen?
Government budgets per child
All across Africa governments aren’t able to provide sufficient services to young people whatever their governments do because of their incredibly low budgets.
Even if the government of Burundi ignored adults and directed all of their 2023 tax revenue to be spent on children’s services each year they would only have some $60 per child to spend, some $1.16 a week. [8]
This is also before the impact of the debt crisis is considered, Burundi paid over 45 million US dollars in debt servicing costs last year alone so the funds the Burundi government can spend in Burundi is even lower in practice. [9]
How does this compare to the former colonial power of Burundi and Mozambique? If France directed all of their 2023 tax revenue to be spent on children’s services each year they would have $51,765 per child to spend, nearly $1,000 a week. [10]
France’s potential spending per child is over 800 times higher – this is how extreme government inequality has become in our world.
The European Union average tax revenue would allow them to spend $41,973 per child and the United States is only slightly behind with $39,820, the average for sub-Saharan Africa is not available as the average tax revenue for the continent is not yet published. [11]
Extremely low government budgets, rather than corruption or government commitment to education, is the main driver of inequality in education and the crisis facing young Africans today.
So, If we want to reverse the increasing inequality in education and eliminate extreme poverty, we have to address why the world’s government budgets are becoming more and more unequal?
The first place to start is the growing and extreme disparity in GDP per person of the national economies.
Differences in GDP per person
Government budgets per person are closely related to a country’s GDP per person.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the accepted but imperfect measure of the market value of the final goods and services produced by a country each year.
There has been a huge difference in how GDP/person it has changed in the last 50 years
As different generations turn 18 you can see the pattern is exactly the same.
Inequality in GDP has increased not decreased, with major rises in North American and European GDP per person and flatlining GDP per person in Sub-Saharan Africa. .
This scale of the different growth rates is hard to justify or accept.
The average European Union GDP per person was 11 times higher than sub-Saharan Africa in 1976 yet it is now 22 times higher. [12]
The North American GDP was 19 times higher than sub-Saharan Africa in 1976 and is now 40 times higher. [13]
The world is getting much more unequal, not less.
How does African GDP/person compare with other developing regions?
The graph compares the percentage change of GDP per person between sub-Saharan Africa and the 1970’s two other lowest income regions, the South Asia region and the East Asia and Pacific region.
You can see how unequal GDP per person growth has been in the last 50 years and how that inequality is accelerating in the last 15 years.
GDP per person has increased by 415% in South Asia ($1,687), 465% in East Asia and Pacific ($10,331) but just 5% in Sub-Saharan Africa. [14]
There has been and remains huge challenges on inequality within all regions of the world, but there is a deeper and more widespread inequality facing African countries that is getting much worse.
In fact, GDP per person in sub-Saharan Africa has only grown $76 since 1976 , a growth of less than $2 per year. [15]
This is the average across the 48 countries; in twelve African countries and the East and Southern Africa region it is actually lower now than in 1976 [16].
In contrast, GDP per person in the United States has increased by $37,366 since 1976 [17].
GDP per person has grown 30% more in an average day in the US than it has in sub-Saharan Africa in an average year [18].
There is an stark and deadly difference in GDP per person between continents. It is getting worse and it is the main reason for the extreme government inequality in our world.
In order to change it , we have to understand why GDP per person in Africa is so low.
The first natural question is whether Africa has the natural resources of the other regions?
Sources
1. Wikipedia ‘Madagascar (franchise)’ – Read more here – states “The film series has grossed over $2.2 billion”
2. Euronews, ‘How climate change is turning once green Madagascar into a desert’, 20th March 2022, Read more here
3. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, FAO STAT ‘Number of people undernourished (million) (annual value)’ – Get data here – gives 5.7 million undernourished people for 2010-12 for Madagascar and 11.8 million undernourished people for 2021-23 with a steady increase across the eleven years
4. Moviepedia Fandom ‘Madagascar – Transcript | Madagascar Wiki’ & ‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa/Transcript’ & ‘Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted/Transcript’ & ‘Penguins of Madagascar/Transcript’ – Read more here, here, here & here – has no mention of Malagasy in the transcript
5. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, FAO STAT ‘Number of people undernourished (million) (annual value)’ – Get data here – gives 11.8 million undernourished people for 2021-23 with a steady increase across the eleven years & Data Commons ‘New York City’ (Accessed 13th June 2025) – Read more here – gives the population of New York as 8.25 million
6. UNESCO UIS ‘Out of School Estimates’ (Accessed 13th June 2025) – Get data here – select gives 4,124,000 out of school children for Madagascar in 2024 and 1,965,000 in 2014
7. World Bank ‘Tax revenue (% of GDP) Indicator GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS’ (Accessed 1st June 2025) – Get data here – gives Madagascar Tax revenue for 2022 as 9.36 % of GDP & ‘GDP per capita (current US$) NY.GDP.PCAP.CD’ (Accessed 1st June 2025) – Get data here – gives GDP/capita as $497.24 for a tax revenue per person of $46.54
8. World Bank ‘Tax revenue (% of GDP) Indicator GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS’ (Accessed 1st June 2025) – Get data here – gives Burundi Tax revenue for 2021 (latest year) as 15.636% & ‘GDP (current US$) Indicator NY.GDP.MKTP.CD’ – Get data here – gives Burundi GDP as $2,775,798,697 for 2021 & United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects: The 2024 Revision, (custom data acquired via website on 1st June 2025) – Get data here – gives U18 population of Burundi as 7,183,364 for a tax revenue / child of $60.42 in 2021 or $1.16 a week
9. World Bank ‘Total debt service (% of GNI)Indicator DT.TDS.DECT.GN.ZS’ – Get data here – gives Burundi for 2023 1.678% GNI in debt servicing costs & ‘GNI (current US$) NY.GNP.MKTP.CD’ – Get data here gives Burundi GNI for 2023 as $2,647,964,584 for a debt servicing cost of $44,434,745 for 2023 (Data Accessed 1st June 2025)
10. World Bank ‘Tax revenue (% of GDP) Indicator GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS’ (Accessed 1st June 2025) – Get data here – & ‘GDP (current US$) Indicator NY.GDP.MKTP.CD’ – Get data here – gives Burundi GDP as $2,775,798,697 for 2021 & United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects: The 2024 Revision, (custom data acquired via website on 1st June 2025) – Get data here – gives tax revenue / child for France of $51,765 for 2023or $995.49 a week
11. World Bank ‘Tax revenue (% of GDP) Indicator GC.TAX.TOTL.GD.ZS’ (Accessed 1st June 2025) – Get data here – & ‘GDP (current US$) Indicator NY.GDP.MKTP.CD’ – Get data here – gives Burundi GDP as $2,775,798,697 for 2021 & United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2024). World Population Prospects: The 2024 Revision, (custom data acquired via website on 1st June 2025) – Get data here – gives tax revenue / child for the European Union of $41,973.37 for 2022 and $39 819.67 for the United States for 2023.
12. & 13. World Bank, ‘GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$)’ Indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.KD’ (Accessed 13th June 2025) – Get data here – gives 1976 Sub-Saharan Africa $1,504, European Union $15,991 (multiple 10.6) and North America $28,213 (multiple 18.78) & for 2023 gives Sub-Saharan Africa $1,581, European Union $34,601 (multiple 21.9) and North America $63,594 (multiple 40.2)
14. World Bank, ‘GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$)’ Indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.KD’ (Accessed 13th June 2025) – Get data here
15. & 17. & 18. World Bank, ‘GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$)’ Indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.KD’ (Accessed 13th June 2025) – Get data here – gives 1976 Sub-Saharan Africa $1,504 and for 2023 $1581 for a difference of $1.63 a year and gives 1976 United States $28,509 and for 2023 $65,875 for a difference of $795 a year and $2.18 a day, so the US’s average daily increase of GDP per capita is 33% higher than the Sub-Saharan Africa annual increase.
16. World Bank, ‘GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$)’ Indicator NY.GDP.PCAP.KD’ (Accessed 13th June 2025) – Get data here shows falls in GDP/capita for Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Sudan, Zimbabwe and the Africa Eastern and Southern region
For 17. and 18. see 15.
