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Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy is expected to show continued resilience with growth projected to accelerate to 3.8% in 2025, up from 3.5% in 2024, according to the 32nd edition of the World Bank’s biannual economic update, Africa’s Pulse.
This positive trajectory is attributed to easing inflationary pressures and a modest recovery in investment, despite persistent global uncertainty. The number of countries experiencing double-digit inflation has fallen sharply from twenty-three in October 2022 to ten in July 2025, signaling progress in price stabilization.
However, the World Bank report warns that the pace of growth remains insufficient to significantly reduce extreme poverty or create the quantity and quality of jobs needed for the region’s rapidly growing labor force. The report, which focuses on “Pathways to Job Creation in Africa,” highlights the urgent demographic challenge.
“Over the next quarter century, Sub-Saharan Africa’s working-age population will grow by more than 600 million,” said Andrew Dabalen, World Bank Chief Economist for the Africa Region. “The challenge will be matching this growing population with better jobs, given that only 24 percent of new workers today land wage-paying jobs. A structural shift toward more medium and large firms is essential to generate wage jobs at scale.”
Debt Distress Looms
The regional economy faces significant downside risks, including declining investor appetite and a shrinking pool of external finance. External debt service has more than doubled over the past decade, reaching 2% of GDP in 2024. The number of Sub-Saharan African countries in or at high risk of debt distress has nearly tripled, rising from eight in 2014 to twenty-three in 2025—nearly half of the region.
The report outlines several policy priorities for governments to stimulate large-scale job creation, including:
- Reducing the cost of doing business to enable high-growth firms to expand.
- Investing in better infrastructure (energy, digital, transport) and human capital development.
- Strengthening institutions and governance to ensure stability and curb corruption, thereby attracting private sector investment.
The World Bank also stressed the potential of key sectors such as agribusiness, mining, tourism, healthcare, and housing and construction, noting that every job created in tourism, for instance, generates an additional 1.5 jobs in related sectors.
