One Year on, Sierra Leoneans Still Await Progress on Jobs and Living Standards
A year after an Afrobarometer survey highlighted widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s handling of the economy, many of the concerns raised by Sierra Leoneans appear to have shown little improvement.
The survey, carried out in March and April 2025 among 1,200 adults by the Institute for Governance Reform (IGR), found that while majorities approved of the government’s performance on education, security and some public services, approval ratings on key economic issues were low.
Only 22% of respondents said the government was doing well on creating jobs, 24% approved of efforts to improve the living standards of the poor, and just 14% said it was narrowing the gap between rich and poor. Positive ratings for reliable electricity supply also stood at 24%. Several of these economic indicators had already declined compared with the previous survey in 2022.
In contrast, 69% of citizens gave the government good marks for addressing educational needs, 72% for preventing or resolving violent conflicts, 64% for reducing crime and 53% for basic health services.
Corruption concerns were also prominent. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) said most or all police officials were involved in corruption, while about half expressed the same view of members of parliament, tax officials and business executives. Only 30% believed people could report corruption without fear of retaliation.
At the time, 58% of Sierra Leoneans said the country was heading in the wrong direction. Nearly six in ten had considered emigrating, mainly in search of work or to escape economic hardship.
One year later, the issues identified in the 2025 findings, particularly unemployment, poverty and inequality, continue to dominate public discussion, with little indication that citizen assessments of government performance on these fronts have shifted significantly.
Afrobarometer, a pan-African research network, has tracked public opinion in Sierra Leone since 2012. The 2025 results formed part of its Round 10 surveys across multiple African countries.