Africa Rising is a term coined in 2011 to explain rapid economic growth across

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

to date since 2000 and the inevitability of its subsequent continuation. '' The Financial Times'' defines Africa Rising as a "narrative that improved governance means the continent is almost predestined to enjoy a long period of mid-to-high single-digit economic growth, rising incomes and an emerging middle class." The term was first coined by '' The Economist'' in December 2011. "Africa Rising" has been particularly associated with the democratisation of African states since the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, comparative peace, greater availability of

mobile phones A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

and the Internet, and increase in African consumer spending as well as a growth in entrepreneurship. In the decade between 2005 and 2015, the economy of Africa as a whole increased by 50 per cent in contrast with a world average of 23 per cent. The term gained widespread use in the mid-2010s. It was the title of a 2014 conference held in Mozambique by the International Monetary Fund. It was used by the BBC and both ''The Economist'' and '' Time'' devoted front-pages to the narrative. The term has also spawned a number of spin-off ideas, such as "Latin America Rising" and "Asia Rising". "Africa Rising" has been criticised by some as being a "stereotype" of Africa as a continent "brimming with mobile phones and energetic businesses". Critics have also argued that the narrative has been undermined by experience of the West African Ebola virus epidemic (2013–16) and the persistence of conflict in parts of the continent. Critics have also claimed that the 18 million Africans considered " middle class" are too small a proportion (3.3 percent) of the overall population to justify claims of rapid social change brought about by Africa Rising. Patrick Bond has argued that "Africa Rising" was coined at "the very moment that Africa's GDP ceased its rapid 2002–11 increase" following a sustained period of surging commodity prices and that their subsequent collapse "did not set the stage for renewed competitiveness, business confidence, or ransnational corporations'investment, but instead catalyzed another round of fiscal crises, extreme current account deficits, sovereign debt defaults and intense social protests." He described "Africa Rising" as a

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

"chimera".

See also

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