Washington, US// — Sub-Saharan Africa’s cities could become powerful engines of economic growth and job creation if governments focus investments and policy attention on places where firms can cluster, and workers can easily reach them, according to a new World Bank Group report.
The newly released Sub-Saharan Africa’s Urban Awakening: Catalysing Economic Growth and Job Creation report projects that the region will add 748 million urban residents between 2025 and 2050. It finds that this growth offers a time-bound opportunity to create more and better jobs for the region’s expanding young workforce. Cities already offer stronger prospects: urban households spend considerably more per adult than equally educated rural households, reflecting more and better jobs.
“Much of Sub-Saharan Africa’s urban infrastructure needed for Africa’s future cities has yet to be built. This creates an important opportunity: decisions made now about where and how cities grow can help create jobs, raise productivity and attract private investment for decades to come,” Paschal Donohoe, World Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer said.
The report finds that realizing this potential will require targeted action to address the different challenges facing cities, their rapidly growing peripheries, and smaller towns.
In major cities, governments should prioritize the fostering of accessible, job-rich clusters by investing in infrastructure, transport and well-located affordable housing, while improving regulations that enable firms and workers to locate closer to economic opportunities. On city peripheries, governments need to plan ahead for rapid expansion, particularly by establishing road networks and reserving space for essential infrastructure before development becomes entrenched.
The report also highlights the often-overlooked potential of Sub-Saharan Africa’s more than 15,000 towns. For smaller towns, the report recommends a selective approach to investment, focusing resources on places with strong economic and geographic potential, particularly towns along transport corridors and near other economic opportunities.
In these high-potential towns, targeted infrastructure and stronger urban planning can help unlock growth and job creation, while investment in education and health can help residents in towns with fewer economic opportunities connect to stronger labor markets. The report also calls for rapidly growing towns to have the appropriate urban governance and financing tools they need to better plan for future expansion.
“Africa’s urban transformation will deliver on its promise only if cities have the institutions and resources to manage growth effectively. Stronger urban governance, more predictable financing, and greater accountability are essential to turn rapid urbanization into better infrastructure, more investment, and ultimately more and better jobs,” said Mark Roberts, World Bank Lead Urban Economist and the report’s lead author.
The report recommends practical, cost-effective measures, such as using low-cost technology to modernise property tax systems that can raise local revenue, improve city creditworthiness, and help attract private investment, including through public-private partnerships in key city locations.
With Sub-Saharan Africa’s urban future taking shape now, the choices made today will shape the region’s cities for generations to come. The report emphasises the need to act early and strategically, combining targeted infrastructure investments with stronger institutions, better urban planning and financing, and greater mobilisation of private capital. Together, these measures can help ensure the region’s rapid urban growth translates into greater economic opportunity and more and better jobs.
Link to the report: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2026/10/29/sub-saharan-africa-urban-awakening
