Africa Development Indicators 2007

The world's demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become increasingly scarce, degraded, and vulnerable to the effects of climate change. In many poor countries, agriculture accounts for at least 40 percent of GDP and 80 percent of employment. At the same time, about 70 percent of the world's poor live in rural areas and most depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. World Development Report 2008 seeks to assess where, when, and how agriculture can be an effective instrument for economic development, especially development that favors the poor. It examines several broad questions: How has agriculture changed in developing countries in the past 20 years? What are the important new challenges and opportunities for agriculture? Which new sources of agricultural growth can be captured cost effectively in particular in poor countries with large agricultural sectors as in Africa? How can agricultural growth be made more effective for poverty reduction? How can governments facilitate the transition of large populations out of agriculture, without simply transferring the burden of rural poverty to urban areas? How can the natural resource endowment for agriculture be protected? How can agriculture's negative environmental effects be contained? This year's report marks the 30th year the World Bank has been publishing the World Development Report.

'Africa Development Indicators 2007 (multiple-user CD-ROM)' offers a comprehensive database with year-by-year time series of most indicators going back to 1970. It contains over 1,200 indicators of macro-economic, sectoral, and social data for over 50 African countries and 20 regional country groups. These series provide analysts with the data needed to help place the most recent years in an historical context. It also contains Country at-a-Glance tables for all African countries, Excel based Executive Summary Briefings, and an electronic copy of the publication tables. Designed to provide all those interested in Africa with a focused and convenient set of data to monitor development programs and aid flows in the region, the CD-ROM is an invaluable reference tool for analysts and policymakers who want a better understanding of the economic and social developments occurring in Africa.

World Development Indicators is the World Bank's premier annual compilation of data about development. This indispensable statistical reference allows you to consult over 900 indicators for some 150 economies and 14 country groups in more than 80 tables. It provides a current overview of the most recent data available as well as important regional data and income group analysis in six thematic sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links. The CD-ROM editions contain 45 years of time series data, covering 1960 to 2005, and offer mapping, charting, and data export formats. Click below for more information on the CD-ROM editions.

ADI is the most detailed collection of data on Africa, containing over 1,600 indicators, covering 53 African countries and spanning the period 1961 to 2008. Data include social, economic, financial, natural resources, infrastructure, governance, partnership, and environmental indicators. It also brings an essay on a key topic for Africa, and this years' theme is the long term growth challenges of the continent.

Finding productive employment for the 200 million Africans between the ages of 15 and 24 is surely one of the continent's greatest challenges. Shows, however, that the median young person in Africa is a poor, out-of-school female living in a rural area. Argues that this finding - based on a careful examination of the data - has important implications for policy design, as well as for the politics of youth-sensitive policies : achieving productive employment and work for young people entails long-term action covering a range of economic and social policies focusing on labour demand and supply, and addressing both quantitative and qualitative dimensions of youth employment.

This volume contains more than 500 economic, social and environmental data indicators from a wide variety of sources for 53 African countries and five regional country groups, in order to present a broad picture of development across the continent. The data covers the period 1980-2001, and is grouped into 16 chapters which cover: selected background data; national accounts; prices and exchange rates; money and banking; external sector issues; external debt and related flows; government finance; agriculture; power, communications and transportation; privatisation of public enterprises; labour force and employment; aid flows; social indicators; environmental indicators; the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative; and household welfare.

This volume contains more than 500 economic, social and environmental data indicators from a wide variety of sources for 53 African countries and five regional country groups, in order to present a broad picture of development across the continent. The data covers the period 1980-2002, and is grouped into 16 chapters which cover: selected background data; national accounts; prices and exchange rates; money and banking; external sector issues; external debt and related flows; government finance; agriculture; power, communications and transportation; privatisation of public enterprises; labour force and employment; aid flows; social indicators; environmental indicators; the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative; and household welfare.