Figures of the week: Informal employment in African cities

A man hawks his goods at a motor park in the Obalende district of Lagos October 9, 2013. With between 15 million and 21 million people - the upper estimate is the official one, though no one really knows - and generating a third of GDP for Africa's second biggest economy, Lagos has become almost as alluring to yield-hungry investors as it is to the 4,000 or so economic migrants who turn up each day. But it faces a daily challenge just trying to keep up with the pace of population growth, much of it on the edge of water. Nigeria, already pushing 170 million people, will be home to 400 million by 2050, making it the world's fourth most populous country, according to the global Population Reference Bureau (PRB). Lagos will have roughly doubled in size by then, Fashola and demographers agree. Picture taken October 9, 2013. To match Insight LAGOS-MEGACITY/ REUTERS/Akintunde Akinleye (NIGERIA - Tags: SOCIETY BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT) - GM1E9AN0J5R01

This week, the World Resources Institute (WRI) released a report titled, Including the Excluded: Supporting Informal Workers for More Equal and Productive Cities in the Global South. Written in collaboration with WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing), the report presents the state of the informal economy in the global south. Notably, it focuses … Continue reading Figures of the week: Informal employment in African cities

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