1/Africa is still, overall, a poor region. But it's made lots of progress that people don't really know about. So here's a thread about that.
2/First, some data from Our World In Data, by the inimitable @MaxCRoser: ourworldindata.org/slides/africa-…
African education has been increasing steadily.
African education has been increasing steadily.
3/African child mortality has fallen enormously. 
4/African countries have become much more democratic, on the whole. 
5/African poverty has fallen steadily, and the rate of the fall has accelerated. 
6/Most African countries have seen solid economic growth. 
7/Remember all those horrifying famine photos from the 1990s?
Well, hunger has fallen a lot in Africa since then.
Well, hunger has fallen a lot in Africa since then.
8/Africa has made solid progress against malaria. 
9/Most Africans, even in the poorest countries, can now read. That wasn't true 2 generations ago. 
10/Remember all those horrible wars in Africa? Congo, Darfur, Rwanda, and all the rest?
Well, southern and Western Africa are now extremely peaceful, and the wars in the continent's northeast are minor compared to the wars of previous decades.
Well, southern and Western Africa are now extremely peaceful, and the wars in the continent's northeast are minor compared to the wars of previous decades.
11/Africa is a growing destination for Foreign Direct Investment: ft.com/content/79ee41…
12/Manufacturing FDI has surged recently in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique and Zambia. worldbank.org/content/dam/Wo… 
13/Ethiopia in particular is an emerging destination for manufacturing FDI. ena.gov.et/en/index.php/e…
14/And much of this investment is being done by China. worldbank.org/content/dam/Wo…
15/So why did African countries do so poorly for so long?
One reason, economists believe, is that colonial powers created "artificial states" on the continent, leading to civil wars: academic.oup.com/jeea/article-a…
One reason, economists believe, is that colonial powers created "artificial states" on the continent, leading to civil wars: academic.oup.com/jeea/article-a…
16/Another reason, many economists believe, is that colonial powers established "extractive institutions" (a polite term for slavery and quasi-slavery) that left governments dysfunctional for many decades. amazon.com/Why-Nations-Fa…
17/So the simplest explanation for Africa's poor performance in the 20th century is just colonialism. It took Africa decades to climb out of the hole of war and corruption that the colonial era dug for it.
But it kept climbing. And the results are showing.
But it kept climbing. And the results are showing.
18/Meanwhile, Africa is now sending a flood of talented people to the United States and other Western nations. bloomberg.com/view/articles/…
19/If history is any guide, these high-skilled African immigrants will invest back in their ancestral countries, boosting growth and improving institutions. A virtuous cycle we've seen with China and India.
20/This is good news, not just for Africa, but for the entire world.
Because Africa represents the future of the human race.
Because Africa represents the future of the human race.
21/So to Donald Trump and others beholden to antiquated, racist stereotypes of Africa, I say: You're looking increasingly dumb and out-of-touch.
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