Africa’s heterogenous middle class: A 10-city study of consumer lifestyle indicators

2020 ◽  
pp. 147078532093903
Author(s):  
James Lappeman ◽  
Lara du Plessis ◽  
Emma Ho ◽  
Ellen Louw ◽  
Paul Egan
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Behavior ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Consumer Durables ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Multi Method Approach ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

Income and living standards measures have long been used in market research and marketing in Africa. This study examined a set of lifestyle indicators (both belongings and behaviors) to determine their success in profiling middle-class consumers in sub-Saharan Africa. The African middle class exhibits robust growth and the definition of the lifestyle of these consumers is a major topic for debate between researchers and marketing organizations. Existing absolute monetary definitions do not adequately provide insights into the true nature of middle-class consumer behavior in sub-Saharan Africa. Similarly, current living standards measures are very focused on capturing consumer durables but do not consider other daily lifestyle factors. By analyzing six key lifestyle indicators (housing, income and expenditure, education, employment, mobile and internet penetration, and health care), middle-class lifestyle was assessed in 10 cities across sub-Saharan Africa. The research used a multi-method approach by designing a structured questionnaire that was completed by a probability sample of 6,465 participants from the sample cities. The study found large lifestyle differences between cities and that no single lifestyle indicator could be applied to all middle-class consumers across the cities. The implications of these findings relate directly to understanding broad middle-class consumer behavior. Specifically, international businesses targeting middle-class growth in Africa must consider both the similarities and differences between countries when proposing strategies to successfully engage middle-class consumers in sub-Saharan Africa.

African Islam and Islam in Africa

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. i-xi
Author(s):  
Ali A. Mazrui
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Black Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Definition Of

Sub-Saharan Africa is often regarded as part of the periphery, rather thanpart of the center, of the Muslim world. In the Abrahamic world, Africa isoften marginalized. But is there anything special about Islam’s relationshipwith Africa? Are there unique aspects of African Islam? Islam has exerted anenormous influence upon Africa and its peoples; but has Africa had anyimpact upon Islam? While the impressive range of articles presented in thisspecial issue do not directly address such questions, my short editorialattempts to put those articles within the context of Africa’s uniqueness in theannals of Islam. One note: Although these articles concentrate on sub-Saharan Africa (“Black Africa”), our definition of Africa encompasses thecontinent as a whole – from South Africa to Egypt, Angola to Algeria, andMozambique to Mauritania ...

scholarly journals Attitudes towards early marriage and related factors among adolescent girls in Ethiopia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Gulema ◽  
Ayah Hamdan ◽  
Jessica Gingles ◽  
Lauren E. Friedman ◽  
Bizu Gelaye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Girls ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Early Marriage ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

Abstract Background Early marriage, although it remains a common practice in sub-Saharan Africa, has detrimental effects on women’s sexual and reproductive health, social networks, and educational attainment. We sought to investigate the association between attitudes towards early marriage and marital status among adolescent girls in Ethiopia. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 3,013 adolescent girls aged 13-17 years of age, living in four districts of the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Sociodemographic characteristics and were participants’ attitudes towards early marriage were measured using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. Results The prevalence of early marriage among adolescent girls was 8.3% and approximately 87.0% of girls had an overall positive attitude towards early marriage. Compared to adolescent girls who were unmarried, those who were married or living with a partner were less likely to believe they should have a say whether they want to marry or not (OR=0.32; 95%CI: 0.18-0.57), believe they should get to decide when to marry (OR=0.52; 0.31-0.88), and believe they should have the final decision over the decision to marry (OR=0.48; 0.32-0.73). Conclusions Interventions to prevent early marriage should strengthen women decision-making processes and promote women’s agency.

When the History Turns Stronger than the Rhetoric

2013 ◽  
pp. 118-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ullamaija Kivikuru
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Social History ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Media Content ◽  
Editorial Office ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Professionals ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Definition Of

The 1990s brought radical changes to Sub-Saharan Africa. In the rhetoric, the ownership mode appeared as a crucial marker of freedom. However, neither the access to the media nor the media content has changed much. The media mode, inherited from previous phases of social history, seems to change slowly. Old modes reproduce themselves in new media titles disregarding ownership mode. In this chapter, empirical evidence is sought from Namibia and Tanzania. The empirical evidence is based on two sets of one-week samples (2007, 2010) of all four papers. In this material, a government paper and a private paper from one particular country resemble each other more than when ownership modes are compared. Bearers of the journalistic culture seem to be to a certain extent media professionals moving from one editorial office to another, but the more decisive factors are the ideals set for journalism. The “first definition of journalism” reflects old times.

scholarly journals What is pathogen-mediated insect superabundance?

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (170) ◽  
pp. 20200229
Author(s):  
Ruairí Donnelly ◽  
Christopher A. Gilligan
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Field Data ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Insect Vectors ◽  
Vector Abundance ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Definition Of

When increasing abundance of insect vectors is manifest across multiple fields of a crop at the landscape scale, the phenomenon is sometimes referred to as insect superabundance. The phenomenon may reflect environmental factors (i.e. environmentally mediated insect superabundance , EMiS), including climatic change. A number of pathogens, however, are also known to modify the quality of infected plants as a resource for their insect vectors. In this paper, we term increasing vector abundance when associated with pathogen modification of plants as pathogen-mediated insect superabundance (henceforth PMiS). We investigate PMiS using a new epidemiological framework. We formalize a definition of PMiS and indicate the epidemiological mechanism by which it is most likely to arise. This study is motivated by the occurrence of a particularly destructive cassava virus epidemic that has been associated with superabundant whitefly populations in sub-Saharan Africa. Our results have implications for how PMiS can be distinguished from EMiS in field data. Above all, they represent a timely foundation for further investigations into the association between insect superabundance and plant pathogens.

scholarly journals Constructing a measure of health literacy in Sub-Saharan African countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 907-915
Author(s):  
Heather F McClintock ◽  
Julia M Alber ◽  
Sarah J Schrauben ◽  
Carmella M Mazzola ◽  
Douglas J Wiebe
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
National Study ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Good Internal Consistency ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
High Health Literacy

Abstract We sought to develop and evaluate a health literacy measure in a multi-national study and to examine demographic characteristics associated with health literacy. Data were obtained from Demographic Health Surveys conducted between 2006–15 in 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Surveys were the same in all countries but translated to local languages as appropriate. We identified eight questions that corresponded to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) definition of health literacy. Factor analysis was used to extract one measure of health literacy. Logistic regression was employed to examine the relationship between demographic characteristics and health literacy. A total of 224 751 individuals between the ages of 15 and 49 years were included. The derived health literacy measure demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.72) and good content validity. The prevalence of high health literacy overall was 35.77%; females 34.08% and males 39.17%; less than or equal to primary education 8.93%, some secondary education 69.40% and ≥complete secondary 84.35%. High health literacy varied across nations, from 8.51% in Niger to 63.89% in Namibia. This is the first known study to evaluate a measure of health literacy relying on the NAM definition utilizing a large sample from 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Our study derived a robust indicator of NAM-defined health literacy. This indicator could be used to examine determinants and outcomes of health literacy in additional countries.

scholarly journals The Distribution of Consumption Expenditure in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Inequality Among All Africans

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
La-Bhus Fah Jirasavetakul ◽  
Christoph Lakner
Keyword(s):  
Wide Distribution ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Household Surveys ◽  
Consumption Expenditure ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Full Sample ◽  
Alternative Measures ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Measures Of Inequality

Abstract This paper uses a set of national household surveys to study the regional Sub-Saharan Africa distribution of consumption expenditure among individuals during 1993–2008. The analysis puts the disparities in living standards that exist among all persons in Africa into context with the disparities that exist within and between African countries. We find some evidence that African interpersonal inequality has increased, but this depends on the measure of inequality. The Africa-wide Gini increased from 53% in 1993 to 56% in 2008 in the full sample, compared with an increase from 54% to 56% in the balanced sample of countries. In the full sample, this result is robust to alternative measures of inequality, while in the balanced sample, some bottom-sensitive measures show a decline. Disparities in living standards between countries have increased, while there has been no systematic increase in within-country inequality. For the Africa-wide distribution, the growth of consumption expenditure (from household surveys) has been low (between 0.9% and 1.6% per year depending on the sample). This growth has been uneven such that the richest 5% of Africans received around 40% of the total gains.

Reproduction, Production, Social Science, and the Past: A Dissenting Review

1987 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. L. Cornell
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social History ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Historical Sociology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Past ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Definition Of

Social Scientists use historical data. Historians use social science concepts. The intersection of these two disciplines, history and social science, has been a vibrant source of research questions over the last fifteen years but also raises the issue of how they are to be interrelated. The search for an answer to this question has resulted in the publication of Theda Skocpol’s Vision and Method in Historical Sociology and Olivier Zunz’s Reliving the Past: The Worlds of Social History, which juxtapose the two words in different order. In Skocpol (1984) history modifies sociology; in Zunz (1985) social science modifies history. Both books are collections of articles. Skocpol’s volume contains nine reviews of the work of masters in this field along with an introduction and conclusion by the editor. Zunz’s has an introduction which reviews the literature of social history in five areas of the world: Western Europe, the United States, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and China. This review highlights the strength of Skocpol’s method and of Zunz’s commitment to analysis of non-Western societies but argues that both authors, in limiting their definition of the field to studies of production, ignore an equally vital topic for social analysis of the past, reproduction.

scholarly journals We Forgot the Middle Class!: Inequality Underestimation in a Changing Sub-Saharan Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Clementi ◽  
A. L. Dabalen ◽  
Vasco Molini ◽  
Francesco Schettino
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Class Inequality ◽  
Sub Saharan

Start a Business, Get a Credit, Make an Impact

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-47
Author(s):  
Sergey Samoilenko ◽  
Kweku-Muata Osei-Bryson
Keyword(s):  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Sufficient Condition ◽  
Access To Finance ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Multi Method Approach ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
Method Approach

It is well known that small and medium enterprises (SME) are important drivers of economic growth, particularly in the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, typically many SMEs operate as informal enterprises which limits their access to finance. Access to appropriate levels of credit (i.e., get credit) is generally a necessary condition but not sufficient condition for improvement in socio-economic outcomes (i.e., make impact). Thus, improving access to credit is still a desirable goal. This paper uses a DEA-based multi-method approach to explore the “ICT Capabilities & Going Legit & Get Credit & Make Impact” path. The results show that there are statistically significant links between ICT Capabilities and legitimization of SMEs (i.e., going legit), ICT capabilities and get credit, and going legit and get credit. Given this desirability of improving access to credit (i.e., get credit), these results suggest that the increasing the level ICT capabilities should result in increases in the levels of going legit and get credit.

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