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7.9 GEOGRAPHIC INSIGHTS

Sub-Saharan Africa: Review and Self-Test

1. Environment: Sub-Saharan Africa’s poverty and political instability leave its people less able to adapt to climate change than the inhabitants of other world regions, though many Africans are developing strategies to cope with increasing variability in rainfall and temperature. As a whole, this region has contributed little to the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but deforestation by rural Africans and by multinational logging companies is intensifying global climate change.

2. Globalization and Development: Most sub-Saharan African economies are dependent on the export of raw materials. This pattern, a legacy of the era of European colonialism, results in economic instability because prices for raw materials can vary widely from year to year. While a few countries are diversifying and industrializing, most still sell raw materials and all rely on expensive imports of food and manufactured goods.

3. Power and Politics: Governments in sub-Saharan Africa tend to be authoritarian, though there is a general shift in the region toward the expansion of political freedoms. Free and fair elections have brought about dramatic changes in some countries, while elections tainted by widespread suspicions of fraud have often been followed by surges of violence in others.

4. Urbanization: Sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing a massive wave of rural-to-urban migration; it has the fastest rate of urbanization in the world. Much of this growth is unplanned and 70 percent of the urban population now lives in impoverished slums characterized by inadequate sanitation; poor access to clean water or food; and crowded, fire-prone housing.

5. Population and Gender: Of all the world regions, populations are growing fastest in sub-Saharan Africa. However, growth has been slowing as the demographic transition has begun taking hold, especially in a few of the more prosperous countries where better health care and lower levels of child mortality, along with more economic and educational opportunities, are encouraging smaller families. In particular, women are better able to pursue careers and to choose to have fewer children.