African countries are failing to create enough jobs for their young populations: Africa’s deteriorating business environment will inevitably mean the continent will never be able to generate enough jobs for its growing working-age population, according to data from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation’s Index of African Governance (pdf) picked up by the Financial Times. Unlike Europe and China, whose working-age populations will drop by the mns over the next 35 years, Africa, where the median age is 19, is expected to see its working-age population rise by some 900 mn people between 2015 and 2050.

“Trickle down” has failed in Africa, says Mo Ibrahim: “Our gross domestic product has grown by a considerable amount over the past 10 years, but we haven’t translated that into a sustainable economic opportunity,” said Mo Ibrahim, the Sudanese businessman whose foundation aims at improving governance in Africa. “Some people got really rich and enjoy all the fruits of economic boom, but no more jobs or economic opportunity were created. Trickle down doesn’t work.” Data showed that Africans across the continent’s 54 countries mostly work in the informal sector and are not too happy with their jobs.

Pessimism pervades the report: The report gives credit to some countries for imposing economic policies to boost growth or improving their infrastructure with the help of Chinese investments, but says it’s not enough, pointing to countries’ failure to diversify their economies or increase their exports. It expected the continent’s deteriorating business environment, including in key economies like South Africa and Egypt, to lead to “brain drain, political and social unrest, instability and armed conflict.”