Findings challenge view of continent as a place of famine and poverty
By David Smith in Cape Town
One in three Africans is middle class, a rising group of consumers to rival those of China and India, researchers have found (pdf). Record numbers of people in Africa own houses and cars, use mobile phones and the internet and send their children to private schools and foreign universities, according to the African Development Bank. Mthuli Ncube, the bank's chief economist, said the findings should challenge long-held perceptions of Africa as a continent of famine, poverty and hopelessness...[continued]
