Written by Jonathan Eley and Norma Cohen | From Financial Times

In the 1970s, it was Idi Amin’s expulsion of Asians from Uganda. In 1980s, it was a malnourished child in Ethiopia, struggling just to stand up. In the 1990s, it was piles of mutilated corpses in Rwanda. For many in the west, these remain the defining images of Africa – despots, disasters and despair.

Those on the ground maintain that such perceptions are outdated. Africa certainly isn’t without its problems, but huge social and economic progress has been made and money is pouring in.

The International Monetary Fund has projected that during the next five years, ten of the 20 fastest-growing economies in the world will be in sub-Saharan Africa, and two will be in north Africa. None will be in the developed west.

Anne Richards, chief investment officer at Aberdeen Asset Management, says Africa is “one of the few places left where there is the potential for ‘hockey stick’ returns,” referring to the shape of a rapidly-rising graph.

She cites falling child mortality and ratios of children per women in many African countries. “These factors are well-established prerequisites for economic and social development; indeed, similar characteristics were prevalent prior to the meteoric rise of the Asian Tigers.”

Certainly, Africa’s demographic profile has attracted investors’ attention. With the size of the world’s working age population, defined as those between 15 and 64, set to contract over the next 50 years, southern Africa in particular is distinctive.

“Sub-Saharan Africa is the one bright spot when analysing global demographic trends,” say analysts at Morgan Stanley’s Sustainable + Responsible research team in a recent note. “Over the next 20 years, the global population of 20 to 64-year-olds is expected to grow by about 900 million, but 30 per cent of this growth will come from sub-Saharan Africa.”

But economists warn against making too many optimistic assumptions about future growth potential in southern Africa, based on demography alone. “There isn’t a straight line between gross domestic product (GDP) growth and demography,” says Carl Haub, senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau, a US think-tank.

Read more at Financial Times