Africa by Numbers: Knowledge & Governance

Keynote by Morten Jerven, GIM International Summit 2016, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
How much do we know about income, growth and poverty in Africa? Much less than we would like to think. While the phrase ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’ reminds us that inaccurate statistics is not a problem particular to Africa, the magnitude of the knowledge problem recently led the World Bank Chief Economist for Africa to declare “Africa’s Statistical Tragedy”. This knowledge problem translates into a governance problem. Without reliable facts evidence based policy may turns into policy driven evidence – the opposite of what was intended. From the Millennium Development Goals to the ‘Data Revolution’ envisaged in the post-2015 round of future development indicators – there is an increasing demand for data. A new agenda for data for development in Africa is required – where local demand, incentives and applicability is at the center.