Africa is a continent and as many of us know the continent is not a single country. Africa is currently divided between 54 different independent countries but what would happen if all of these countries United to form the United African States. What would Africa the country look like in the world and how powerful of a country will it actually be.
For starters, Africa is huge and covers over 20% of all the land on Earth making it about three times the size of all of Europe. 1.2 billion people currently live in Africa or about 16% of the entire global population, so interestingly a United African state would actually have a smaller population than both India and China but this wouldn't be the case for very long since Africa is currently experiencing the largest population boom in the world.The population of the continent has doubled since just 1990 at the continent is expected to surpass the populations of both India and China in the same year 2022.
According to official UN estimates the population of Africa is expected to reach a massive 4.4 billion people by the end of the twenty-first century and comprise 39% of the global population.This enormous demographic shift in the future will ensure that United African state has a dominant position in the world but it comes with several challenges.
The population of Africa currently is the youngest in the world with a median age of just 19.7 years old compared to the global average of 30.4 years old
source
Literacy rates are also low with only 64% of the population being considered literate.But this varies between regions in Libya, for example the literacy rate is very high at 94.2% while in South Sudan it is very low.
HIV infection rates in the continent would also pose a severe challenge to the United Africa as 11% of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is currently infected with the disease.
In addition to these challenges, the United African state would also struggle with the extreme diversity on the continent.Africa is the most linguistically and ethnically diverse continent on the planet
where somewhere between 1250 and 3000 languages are spokenbecause of this Africa is the most multilingual place in the world where many people speak at least two African languages and one additional European language a situation similar to South Africa where there are 11 official languages would probably have to exist.
The most common languages are Arabic spoken by about 17% of the population mostly in North Africa.Swahili by about 10% located mostly in southeast Africa Berber by 5%and Hausa by another 5%. English, French and Portuguese are very common. English is understood by 13% of the population French close behind at 11.5% and Portuguese by 3% all of these languages would probably have official status as well as several as several others.There are hundreds if not thousands of different ethnic groups that exist in Africa.
Let's look at religion Christians and Muslims would be almost perfectly divided with each faith claiming about 47% of the continent's population. Traditional African religions would represent about 10% of the population and this adds to more than 100% because several people hold mix to believe.About a final 2% of the population would be Atheist or non-religious
The 10 largest cities in Africa. Lagos in Nigeria has a greater population of Romania combined but despite this, it probably wouldn't be the capital city.
I predict that the capital city would probably be located here in Ethiopia "Addis Ababa" this is because an organization called the African Union already existssimilar in some ways to the European Union in Europe. The African Union headquarters are already located in Addis Ababa and the United Nations Economic Commission of Africa is also headquartered there.
Addis Ababa often already called the political capital of Africa so it would make sense to agree that the city would serve as the capital city of the United continent.Cairo and Johannesburg would probably be the largest Financial Centers of the United Africa and serve very important roles as well. Africa is incredibly rich in natural resources possessing 90% of the world's Platinum 50% of its gold 50% of its diamonds and another 33% of its uranium despite this, however, it remains the poorest continent on the planet.
The United African state would have a GDP of 2.39 trillion US Dollars making it only the seventh largest economy in the world it would barely beat out India's economy but remain behind those of France the United Kingdom and Germany.The GDP per capita of Africa would only be $1,992 per year but that figure isn't totally accurate on how crushing the poverty on the continent actually is because of rampant government corruption.
According to the World Bank poverty is defined as living under $1.25 per day
based on that 50% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa would be living in poverty with the average person on the continent living on less than $0.70 per day.
This picture kind of highlights how severe this problem is especially when you compare it to other continents but Africa has a lot of room to grow the continent is projected to be the quickest growing region of the world in the future and her GDP is expected to finally overtake France and the United Kingdom by 2023 but will still remain behind in Germany then all things considered though Africa certainly has the potential if it United to become a superpower.
By the close of the 21st century, it would have a massive population to fuel a massive Army in a potentially huge economy that could one day rival the rest of the world with one flag Africa the country would be a United continent optimistically looking forward to what the future would bring for her.
Leave your comments below about how you think other countries would react to a United Africa and even how long the United Africa may last for.
Gadhaffi tried that..and wanted the gold standard for africa. Look what happened to him :)
ha ha ha ha
Qadhafi was a stooge. He had 40+ years to enact the gold standard, and never did. He was all talk, and too busy at bunga bunga parties with his Euro-buddies to be worrying about gold standards.
For starters, Africa is huge and covers over 20% of all the land on Earth making it about 2% of the same size as all of Asia or about three times the size of all of Europe.
I am not sure what you are trying to say but you may want to revise this a Africa being 2% of Asia doesn't make sense.
thank you revised
I suppose that a United Africa is possible, but probably not as a federal republic like the USA is. Perhaps more of a loose confederation. Something like the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States.
will check it out
Big government is really not all it's cracked up to be. Sure Africa needs to rise up out of the quagmire it's been pushed down into, but simply aspiring to imitate those who pushed her there is not the solution.
Until the age of European colonialism, Africa was the breadbasket of the world, along with India. And since European colonialism, they've both become the basket cases of the world, and it's no accident. The European powers sucked these places dry, taking all their precious resources and putting into power neo-colonialist stooges who continue to rape the land for their colonial masters.
Till this day, France still forces impoverished African nations to pay them a "compensation" for forfeiting their colonial rights.
click here!This post received a 4.5% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @tinashe! For more information,
We divide to gain from division. If we make them ok ne then it will be a strength against which no one can stand. Power to reckon. Super power.
@tinashe follow me and upvote my posts @nandikafuture
It is an interesting question. I think that super states come with a lot of inherent problems and that they just end up causing conflict and economic turmoil in the long run.
Well guess the superpowers will be trying to stretch its muscles
Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by Tinashe from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the
If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.