让人担心的非洲青年潮.docVIP

精品文档，助力人生，欢迎关注小编！ 让人担心的非洲青年潮 Vicky The worrying African youth boom What worries Bill Gates most？ Thebooming population of Africa looms over hisfoundations latest global survey. By the end ofthis century there will be 4 billion more peopleon Earth-and 3 billion of these extra souls willbe born in Africa. The challenge，he says，is that“Africa must almost quadruple its agriculturalproductivity to feed itself. Thats very daunting. The philanthropist is torn between sendingout a message of hope and a message of fearwhen I meet him at his foundations spaciouscampus in the heart of his hometown，Seattle. He is reaching for what works best torevive the Wests faltering conscience in theface of“Americafirst”nationalismand rising pull-up-the-drawbridge populismin Europe. The spirit of generosity is underassault as government aid budgets come underconstant sniper fire from right-wing politiciansand their media. Half of the Bill Melinda Gates Foundationspending goes to Africa. The funds put intothe foundation by themselves and fellow philanthropist Warren Buffett now amount tomore than than $50bn. Until last year Gates，theMicrosoft founder，was the worlds richest man. He has now been overtaken by Amazons JeffBezos. The foundations report bursts withremarkable data-too few people know aboutthe galloping progress of humankind. Take India，where only 18 years ago almost one in fivechildren were not enrolled in primary school-now，97% attend classes. Look at the indicatorson the reports global scorecard for the UNssustainable development goals for 2030，andmost things are improving almost everywhere. But there is a marked variation in the futuretrajectory： progress depends on the level offuture investment. Today，the West takes some persuadingthat things are getting better，especially inEurope where countries like Britain havesuffered a decade of falling real living standardsand eye-watering austerity. The upbeat messageof Gates-as well as those in his