Why Poverty in Cameroon Has Deepened Over 20 Years

September 17, 2025 Leave a comment

CameroonOnline.ORG | Cameroon today stands at a crossroads: despite decades of economic growth and development policies, poverty is not only persisting—it is worsening in many ways. According to a recent assessment by the World Bank, cited in an RFI article, the number of people living in poverty in Cameroon has surged by 66% since the early 2000s. How did this happen? What forces have conspired to stall progress, even reverse some of it?

A Slow Growth That Fails to Lift All Boats

One of the strongest threads running through the recent data is that economic growth, while positive, has been too slow. Growth in gross domestic product has not kept pace with population growth, nor has it been inclusive enough to reach the poorest households. The World Bank’s 2024 Poverty Assessment shows that about 4 in 10 Cameroonians now live below the national poverty line.

Because population keeps increasing, even small improvements in per capita income are often swallowed up by the sheer number of people needing support. In absolute numbers, the “poor” population increased from about 6.2 million in 2001 to 10.3 million in 2021.

Growing Inequality and Uneven Distribution

Growth alone has not been enough. Where the income gains exist, they tend to favor those already better off—urban dwellers, people with more education, holders of formal jobs. Many poorer households—especially in rural areas—are not participating in the gains. The distribution of consumption (or income) has shifted in ways that sometimes worsen poverty when assessed in aggregate. The poor are often isolated—geographically, educationally, socially—from infrastructure, opportunities, and services.

Vulnerabilities: Conflict, Climate, and Shocks

Cameroon faces a rising tide of shocks that act as brakes on poverty reduction:

Conflicts in the Anglophone regions (North-West, South-West) and in the Extreme North have displaced populations, disrupted schooling, and degraded infrastructure.
Climatic shocks—floods, droughts—hurt agricultural livelihoods. Smallholder farmers, many of whom are poor or near-poor, see their crops, income, and food security threatened by weather extremes.
Price volatility (cost of living), inflation, and rising costs of essentials disproportionately affect low-income households. When basic goods cost more, people with little margin are pushed further into inability to meet their needs.

Gaps in Labor Market, Education & Human Capital

Another factor is that jobs are not sufficient in number, nor always stable or well-paid. Many people who are “employed” may be in informal work, agriculture with low productivity, or jobs that do not yield enough to lift a household above the poverty line. Education and human capital improvements have occurred, but not universally; regions lag behind, school quality suffers in conflict areas.

Services—health, water, sanitation, road access—remain unevenly distributed. In some rural or conflict-affected zones, the cost (in time, money, or risk) to access services is still prohibitive. These inequalities in access reinforce cycles of poverty.

What Can Be Done: Policies That Could Turn the Tide

The analysis suggests several levers that could help reverse or slow the worsening of poverty:

Inclusive growth: Ensuring that economic growth benefits reach the poorest: through investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural productivity, and small businesses.
Job creation, particularly in the formal sector and in regions most affected by poverty.
Strengthening social protection: better safety nets, more efficient public assistance, and ensuring access to basic services.
Conflict resolution and security: stabilizing conflict zones to enable schooling, markets, and infrastructure to function.
Better governance and accountability: reducing corruption, improving public service delivery, ensuring transparency would help ensure resources reach those who need them.
Adaptation to climate risks: supporting resilience among farmers, investing in water infrastructure, early warning systems.

Conclusion

Cameroon’s case shows that poverty is not only about having a growing economy—it is also about how that growth happens, who it reaches, and how resilient the country is in the face of shocks. As the RFI report highlights, though the rates of poverty have not changed dramatically, the absolute numbers of people in poverty have risen. That means that even incremental policy improvements matter. For Cameroon to meaningfully reduce poverty over the next twenty years, it will need a combination of economic acceleration, greater inclusion, and resilience-building.