By Mas Yunus Masaba
Africa-Press – Uganda. For decades, Africa has been told that its growing population is a crisis in the making, a threat to jobs, food security, and stability. Western institutions and population theorists have long urged the continent to reduce birth rates, arguing that fewer people would mean greater prosperity.
But history and evidence tell a different story. In truth, Africa’s rising population is not a burden, it is its greatest opportunity in my perspective.
Some of the world’s greatest economic transformations were built not on natural resources, but on people. China and India, often once dismissed as overpopulated and poor, turned their demographic weight into global advantage.
China’s 1.41 billion people powered the world’s largest manufacturing base. Through deliberate policy on industrialization, education, and urbanization, it transformed itself into the factory of the world.
India, similarly with over 1.4 billion citizens, has become the global services hub and one of the fastest-growing major economies, expanding at over 6% annually.
What is striking, however, is that Africa’s landmass, approximately 30.4 million square kilometres is almost three times larger than China and India combined, yet the two Asian countries together host more than double Africa’s population.
India, with only 3.3 million square kilometres, sustains over a billion people, while China’s 9.6 million square kilometres do the same. In contrast, Africa’s vast and fertile lands remain sparsely populated and underutilized.
This means that Africa has both the space and the resources to feed its people, create industries, and build an economic powerhouse. Its soils remain some of the most fertile on the planet, with over 60% of the world’s remaining arable land.
This is an immense opportunity for agro industrialization, commercial farming, and food security if matched with an energetic workforce and smart policy.
Africa today holds the youngest population globally, more than 60% under 25 years old. This is not a crisis; it is a competitive edge. Nations like Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia are beginning to demonstrate that population can indeed drive growth.
Nigeria, with over 230 million people, has become Africa’s largest economy largely because of its vast consumer base and workforce. In Uganda, a growing population of 50 million has transformed the country into a rising manufacturing hub for the region. Industrial parks in Mbale, Namanve, and Tororo are producing goods once imported from Asia, from steel to packaging and beverages and creating jobs for thousands of young people.
In contrast, during a recent visit to Zambia, I observed a different reality. Despite being three times larger than Uganda in land area, Zambia’s population is barely 25 million. Its low population density makes it harder to attract industrial investment and build strong domestic markets.
Infrastructure projects like extending power grids become less viable where populations are scattered, reducing the return on investment. Uganda’s dense population, by comparison, offers both a workforce and a ready market an anchor for sustained growth.
For years, Africa has been haunted by the ghost of Malthusian theory, which warned that population growth would outstrip resources and lead to poverty. As a student of economics, a deeper dive into it is the theory was born in 18th century Europe.
A world without mechanization, industrial farming, or digital innovation. Today, productivity depends less on land per person and more on skills, innovation, and organization.
Western policies that encouraged population control in Africa were often rooted in self interest, a fear of competition from a youthful, resource-rich continent. Ironically, those same countries are now grappling with the opposite crisis: shrinking populations and ageing workforces.
Europe’s largest economies, such as Germany and Italy, now depend on importing labour from Africa and Asia to sustain their industries and pension systems. Japan’s stagnation offers another lesson, a country that succeeded economically but failed to maintain population growth now faces a severe labour shortage.
Lets explore agriculture too.
Africa’s youthful population is not only a potential industrial workforce but also a vital agricultural one. With modern mechanization, training, and access to finance, young Africans can transform agriculture from subsistence to large-scale agribusiness. A productive population can make Africa the world’s next food basket, feeding itself and exporting surplus.
In Uganda, this potential is evident. A growing population has led to the rise of agro-industries in sugar, maize, and beverage processing. These sectors thrive because there is both a labour force to produce and a market to consume.
Similar models can take root across the continent, linking agriculture, manufacturing, and services in a self-sustaining cycle of growth.
Let me challenge the narrative.
Population control is not the solution to poverty, productivity is. Africa does not need fewer people; it needs more empowered, educated, and employed people. The continent’s policies should focus on turning population growth into a demographic dividend, not a demographic burden.
The key lies in good leadership, education, vocational training, industrialization, and infrastructure development.
Africa’s vast lands and youthful population represent a combination of potential unmatched anywhere else on Earth. Population growth is not the problem; it is the untapped key to Africa’s prosperity.
The continent’s leaders must resist external narratives that paint demographic growth as a danger. Instead, they should see it as a source of competitive advantage. A larger population means a larger domestic market, a broader tax base, a stronger industrial labour pool, and a self-sustaining economy.
If India and China used their people to rise, Africa can do even more, because it has what they don’t: space, fertile land, and still-untapped natural resources.
The story of Africa’s next century will not be written by those who fear population growth, but by those who harness it. Our people are our power, and our future depends on how well we invest in them today.
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Mas Yunus Masaba is the Founder and CEO Mas Group Africa
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