{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"CONTINENT DNA | African Business Stories","title":"Africa’s Youth: The Demographic Trap (with Charlie Robertson)","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3234,"description":"Africa has the youngest population in the world. For decades, this has been presented as one of the continent’s greatest economic advantages. But what if population growth alone is not an advantage? What if, under the wrong conditions, it becomes one of the biggest obstacles to prosperity?\nIn this episode of Continent DNA, host Tobe Duru sits down with Charlie Robertson, economist, investor, and author of The Time-Travelling Economist, to examine one of the most consequential questions facing Africa: Can the continent turn its demographic potential into lasting economic prosperity?\nDrawing on decades of research into emerging and frontier economies, Robertson challenges conventional assumptions about population growth, education, industrialisation, and economic development. The conversation explores why some countries have successfully transformed their demographics into economic strength while others continue to struggle, and what Africa can learn from those experiences.\nIn This Episode\nThe demographic paradox: Why a rapidly growing population does not automatically translate into economic growth.\nEducation and fertility: How education, particularly for women, influences demographic transitions and economic development.\nElectricity and industrialisation: Why reliable energy remains fundamental to productivity and economic transformation.\nSavings and investment: The relationship between demographic change, domestic savings, capital availability, and economic growth.\nAfrica’s economic future: What governments, investors, and business leaders need to understand about the continent’s long term growth prospects.\nAfrica’s future will not be determined by how many people it has, but by how productive, educated, and economically empowered those people become.\n\nBooks by Charlie Robertson\nExplore the research and economic ideas behind this conversation through Charlie Robertson’s publications.\n1. The Time-Travelling Economist: Why Education, Electricity and Fertility Are...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/-iQd62-yH-mjB41eMcbPs6ZsE3snuzSxanG4pMWL7Lw/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS84NWMw/ZmRlZjQyMmM5MWFj/NTIyYmJkOTA4YzMw/MTA1Zi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}