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Sub-Saharan Africa
Assessments and Projections from Outlook for Fish to 2020: Meeting Global Demand
- In 2020, sub-Saharan Africa will produce a projected 6 million metric tons of fish for food, a 61 percent increase over 1997 levels, with an annual percentage growth rate second only to that of India.
- Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to have the fastest growth rates in production from wild fisheries of any region in the world, increasing at 2 percent per year. In 2020, 98 percent of the continent's fish production will come from wild fisheries.
- Although aquaculture will continue to represent a small percentage of total fish production in sub-Saharan Africa, fish farming output in 2020 will be 267 percent greater than it was in 1997.
- Net imports of fish for food in sub-Saharan Africa are projected to jump from 54,000 metric tons in 1997 to 492,000 metric tons in 2020. Net imports of low-value food fish into the region will be 627,000 metric tons, while net exports of high-value finfish from the region will be 75,000 metric tons.
- By 2020, consumption of food fish in sub-Saharan Africa will increase 72 percent over 1997 levels, from 3.7 to 6.4 million metric tons. However, per capita consumption of fish in the region will actually decline slightly during this same period, from 6.7 kilograms per person in 1997 to 6.6 in 2020.
- Eighty-eight percent of fish consumed in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 will be low-value food fish.
- On average, people in sub-Saharan Africa will consume 6.6 kilograms of fish per year, roughly one-tenth of what people in Japan will consume, and one-third of the amount people in the U.S. will consume.
Other facts about sub-Saharan Africa:
- Average life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is 46.2 years. (World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2003)
- Almost 400 million people depend on agriculture for their livelihood in sub-Saharan Africa. (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAOSTAT Database, 2002)
- HIV/AIDS has affected sub-Saharan Africa more than any other region in the world. Four countries have infection rates above 30 percent, and a total of 29.4 million people in the region live with the disease. (United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, Sub-Saharan Africa Fact Sheet, 2002)
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