On Thursday, January 15, the Brookings Africa Growth Initiative will launch its annual flagship report, Foresight Africa.
In 2026, Africa stands at a defining moment. A convergence of global and domestic forces has placed the region’s economic trajectory at a crossroads. The continent is poised to experience the world’s fastest labor force expansion: a net increase of roughly 740 million working-age people by 2050, with 12 million young Africans entering the labor market each year—compared with only 3 million new formal wage jobs. At the same time, foreign aid, historically the region’s primary source of concessional finance, is undergoing an unprecedented contraction. This decline comes just as Africa’s capital needs are intensifying, from infrastructure to energy to social services, and as more than half of the region’s low-income countries face high risk of debt distress.
Yet beneath these daunting pressures lie extraordinary opportunities. Africa’s demographic dynamism, resource endowments, entrepreneurial energy, and accelerating regional integration offer a foundation for transformation—if the continent can seize the moment with clarity, coordination, and ambition. This year’s Foresight Africa report will bring together leading scholars and practitioners to illuminate how Africa can navigate the challenges of 2026 and chart a path toward inclusive, resilient, and self-determined growth.
With this and every edition of Foresight Africa, our goal is to elevate the region’s top priorities for the year ahead and offer actionable recommendations for African and global stakeholders committed to building a strong, sustainable, and prosperous continent.
Chapter 1 will examine the shifting global aid landscape and the implications for Africa’s development financing. As traditional aid declines, our authors highlight strategies to mobilize Africa’s own resources for development, leveraging natural wealth, tapping diaspora philanthropy, modernizing payment systems, improving sovereign credit ratings, and strengthening the efficiency of health spending.
Africa’s demographic transition, with a population projected to double by 2050, making one in four people on the planet African, runs as a central thread throughout the report and inspires this year’s cover design. This transition is both Africa’s greatest asset and its greatest risk. Chapter 2 will argue that without bold investments in human capital and the creation of quality jobs for youth, the demographic boom could deepen fragility rather than fuel prosperity. But with the right policies, it can unlock a historic workforce dividend.
Value-added industrialization remains essential to Africa’s long-term growth. Chapter 3 will outline strategies to revive the industrial sector for sustainable growth by expanding energy supply, advancing mineral beneficiation, and accelerating technology adaptation. At the same time, the chapter highlights new and emerging service-based sectors such as agribusinesses, creative, and tradable services that share the economic characteristics of traditional manufacturing and can drive productivity, generate large-scale employment, and boost exports.
Governance developments in 2025 underscored both progress and persistent fragility. While some contexts demonstrated the promise of stronger institutions and more inclusive political engagement, others revealed deepening mistrust, contested transitions, and structural weaknesses that continue to undermine stability. This highlights the urgency of rethinking how peace, security, and governance are built and sustained. Chapter 4 will bring together insights on democratic resilience, rebuilding public trust in state institutions, evolving conflict dynamics, and the growing influence of social media on political participation.
The global order is also shifting. The rise of new powers, evolving U.S.-Africa relations, and weakening multilateralism are reshaping the geopolitical landscape. In this context, Chapter 5 will explore how Africa can assert its interests, strengthen its voice, and transform geopolitical realignments into opportunities by rebooting global partnerships, deepening South-South cooperation, and advancing a unified continental agenda.
Finally, regional integration remains one of Africa’s most powerful levers for prosperity. With the African Continental Free Trade Area now moving from vision to implementation, Chapter 6 will examine how leveraging technology, trade facilitation, and coordinated policy reforms can accelerate integration, create jobs, and drive long-term growth.
With this and every edition of Foresight Africa, our goal is to elevate the region’s top priorities for the year ahead and offer actionable recommendations for African and global stakeholders committed to building a strong, sustainable, and prosperous continent. We hope this report will spark informed dialogue, inspire bold strategies, and support efforts to deliver better development outcomes and shared prosperity across Africa.
Join us for the launch event on Thursday, January 15.
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Commentary
What should be the top priorities for Africa in 2026?
January 13, 2026