West Africa is one of the four subregions of sub-Saharan Africa, which, however, holds a special place both in history and in the economy of the Black Continent. The beginning of the European slave trade by Portuguese merchants, who founded their settlements on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in the 15th century, is associated with West Africa. If we refer Sudan to the Arab region, as many researchers do nowadays, it was in West Africa that the first independent state of sub-Saharan Africa, freed from colonialism, emerged (Ghana, March 6, 1957).
West Africa is the largest sub-region of sub-Saharan Africa both in terms of population and number of states. West Africa also has a special place in the natural resource potential of sub-Saharan Africa, if only because West Africa is home to the main hydrocarbon reserves in the region. The subregion of West Africa includes 16 sub-Saharan states – Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The total area of the sub-region is 6139.8 thousand sq km.
Natural and human resources
The natural resources of the subregion are poorly studied. However, even the available estimates indicate that West Africa is rich in raw materials. The subregion has 80% of world reserves of chromites, 76% of phosphates, 60% of manganese and cobalt, about 50% of bauxites, 40% of diamonds, 37% of gold, about 3% of oil and natural gas, and significant reserves of iron ore, marble and uranium. At the same time many raw materials are distributed in several West African countries.
This includes diamonds, bauxite, iron ore, gold, manganese, oil, natural gas and phosphates. The size of the country’s reserves, however, varies. Thus, the largest diamond reserves are in Sierra Leone, bauxite in Guinea, iron ore in Mauritania and Liberia, gold and manganese in Ghana, oil and natural gas in Nigeria, and phosphate in Togo. Virtually all uranium reserves are concentrated in Niger. All cobalt and chromite reserves are in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone, respectively. Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone have the most diversified resource base. The prospects for further expansion of the subregion’s resource base are mainly linked to the exploration of the Atlantic coastal shelf of West Africa and especially the Gulf of Guinea region, which is potentially rich in hydrocarbons.
The population of West Africa exceeds 280 million. In other words, the subregion is home to approximately 36% of the total population of sub-Saharan Africa. The share of the subregion in the world population is 4.3%[3]. The most populous state in West Africa is Nigeria (population – 145 million people). In terms of population, Nigeria is in sixth place in the world. Cape Verde has the smallest population of the subregion (518 thousand people).
The average annual growth rate of the population of West Africa in the years 2000-2006 was 2, 6% (against 2.3% for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole and 1, 2% globally). The fastest population growth in the sub-region was registered in 2000-2006 in Sierra Leone (3.7%), the lowest – in Cote d’Ivoire and Liberia (1.6%).
The West African labor force (population aged 15-64 years inclusive) exceeds 100 million people, i.e. the sub-region accounts for about 34% of the labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa. At the country level, Nigeria has the largest labor force (over 47 million). The average annual growth rate of the labour force in the sub-region from 1990 to 2004 was The sub-region’s average annual labour force growth rate was 2.8% (compared with 2.5% for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole). The Gambia had the highest labor force growth rate in the sub-region between 1990 and 2004 (3.5%), and Senegal had the lowest (2.1%). The labor force of West Africa is dominated by the labor force of low professional qualifications. Thus, in 11 countries of the sub-region the adult literacy rate (i.e. over 15 years of age) is lower than the average for sub-Saharan Africa (59%). At the same time, in a number of states it is much lower than this value. For example, only 24% of adults are literate in Burkina Faso and Mali, 29% in Guinea and Niger, and 35% in Benin and Sierra Leone.