Poverty and Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: Literature Survey
and Empirical Assessment

Delfin Go

Denis Nikitin

Xiongjian Wang

and

Heng-fu Zou

This paper surveys the literature and assesses the magnitude, persistence, and depth of poverty and inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa using empirical analysis. Our analysis explores linkages between three key facts about development in Sub-Saharan Africa: poor economic growth, poor performance in terms of public health indicators, and resilient high-income inequality. Most of the differential between growth rates in Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing countries can be explained by two measures of human capital-secondary enrolment and infant mortality. We also find that the growth trend in Sub-Saharan Africa does not significantly differ from other developing countries that have fallen into a poverty trap.