Urbanization and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Data from the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Report and the World Bank’s World Development Report are employed to test the hypothesis of a positive link between urbanization and development in sub-Saharan Africa. Level of urbanization is defined as the percentage of a country’s population in cities with at least 20,000 inhabitants. Development is operationalized in terms of the human development index (HDI). Results from correlation and t-test analyses confirm the hypothesized relationship. Thus, the study shows that urbanization and development, measured in terms of the HDI are positively linked at least in the case of the sub-Saharan region