African Development Indicators 2006

This annual publication contains a broad range of macroeconomic, sectoral, and social indicators for 53 African countries which give a detailed picture of development in the region. This year's report has been revised in order to better analyse and monitor the challenges and transformations across the continent. It contains: i) an essay which reviews the performance of countries and donors during 2005 and explores the challenges involved in meeting the Millennium Development Goals by 2015; ii) data tables with selected indicators for the years from 1980 to 2004, covering a range of issues including: national accounts; private sector development; trade; infrastructure, including transportation, energy, ICT, water and sanitation; education; health, including malarial and HIV/AIDS rates; agriculture and rural development; migration and population; and household survey data; and iii) a World Bank Africa Database 2006 CD-ROM with 1,200 macroeconomic, sectoral and human development indicators, with time series of many going back to 1965, together with country tables, and tools for query display and Excel-based executive summary briefings.

Please note that the eBook version of this title does not include access to the CD-ROM contained in the print version. Africa Development Indicators 2006 provides the most detailed collection of data on Africa available in one volume. It contains about 450 macroeconomic, sectoral, and social indicators, covering 53 African countries. 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, this is an invaluable reference tool for analysts and policymakers who want a better understanding of the economic and social developments occurring in Africa.

"Africa Development Indicators 2006 provides the most detailed collection of data on Africa available in one volume. It contains about 450 macroeconomic, sectoral, and social indicators, covering 53 African countries. Additional data may be found on the companion CD-ROM, World Bank Africa Database 2006, covering about 1,200 indicators from 1965 to 2004." --Book Jacket.

This volume provides data from 1970-99 with a wealth of indicators, grouped into 15 chapters: background data; national accounts; prices and exchange rates; money and banking; external sector; external debt and related flows; government finance; agriculture; power, communications, and transportation; public enterprises; labor force and employment; aid flows; social indicators; environmental indicators; and household welfare indicators. African Development Indicators 2001 includes purchasing power parity (PPP) indicators. Each chapter begins with a brief introduction on the nature of the data and their limitations, followed by a set of charts, statistical tables, and technical notes that define the indicators and identify their specific source.

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.

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.