Poverty in Africa: the underlying fundamentals The economies of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have been in decline for a quarter of a century, although with notable exceptions. Consequently, SSA has become the development challenge: while on present trends most of the developing world will continue to converge with the developed world, SSA’s decline has not just been relative but also absolute (figure 1). Unless this disturbing trend is reversed, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be unattainable for SSA.