Afro-Optimism is back – But Africa’s youth have demands

The 2026 ‘African Youth Survey’ finds a generation more hopeful about Africa’s direction than it was two years ago. But beneath the headline rise in optimism sit harder questions about jobs, living costs, corruption and whether recovery is being felt equally across the nations. Jamila Versi takes a closer look at the survey’s opening chapter, ‘Afro-Optimism’.

Every two years, the Ichikowitz Family Foundation’s African Youth Survey takes the temperature of the generation shaping the continent’s future. Launched in 2020, it has become one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, looking not only at what young Africans think, but at what they aspire to, what worries them, and where they believe their countries are heading.

For the 2026 survey, 4,901 young people aged between 18 and 24 were interviewed across 16 African countries, including Botswana, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its first chapter, ‘Afro-Optimism’, opens on what initially looks like a straightforwardly good-news story: optimism is growing.

More than two-in-five (43%) young people surveyed say they feel positive about the direction of the African continent. That is up from 37% in 2024 and, significantly, brings sentiment back to pre-COVID levels. Young people are more optimistic about the direction of their own national economies, as well as that of the continent, than they were two years ago.

It is tempting to read those numbers as evidence that the post-pandemic chapter is finally closing. To an extent, that may be true. In 2024, young Africans were still living with the aftershocks of COVID-19: disrupted education, constrained employment prospects, deteriorating mental health and a cost-of-living crisis that hit those in precarious economic positions particularly hard.

By 2026, some of the economic indicators have improved, with stronger growth and easing inflation across parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. But optimism, here, does not mean ease.

Rising uncertainty amidst cost of living

While negativity in the continent’s direction has fallen, uncertainty has actually risen from 7% in 2024 to 11% in 2026. In other words, while young people have moved away from thinking that Africa is heading in the wrong direction, they are not necessarily convinced it is heading in the right one.

This distinction reflects a broader pattern described in the Africa Sustainable Development Report 2025 as “cautious recovery”. The report argues that, although macroeconomic conditions may be improving, household pressures have not disappeared.

Young Africans say that the rising cost of living is the single most impactful event they have experienced over the past five years – overtaking deaths from infectious disease and political instability.

Food, fuel and necessities remain daily reminders that national growth statistics do not always translate into personal security, with young people disproportionately impacted by rising costs.

Uneven distribution

The continental picture is also far from uniform.

Optimism about Africa’s direction is highest in Rwanda, where 68% say the continent is going the right way, followed by Somalia at 66%, and Burkina Faso and Ghana, both at 60%.

Ghana has seen one of the sharpest changes, jumping 24 percentage points since 2024. This optimism is clearly linked to changes in Ghana’s economy since then, with the country focused on tackling inflation, debt and financial stabilisation under the World Bank Recovery Program since 2024. Nigeria has also shifted dramatically, with positive sentiment towards the continent rising from 10% to 30%.

At the other end of the spectrum, 70% of young Kenyans and 69% of young South Africans believe Africa is heading in the wrong direction. Uncertainty is particularly high in Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

The result is not one African youth mood, but several: hope in some countries, frustration in others, and hesitation in places where economic, political or security pressures remain acute.

Young people’s views of their own countries tell a similarly uneven story, and the link between national confidence and continental optimism is clear. In Rwanda, 91% say their country is going in the right direction; in Burkina Faso the figure is 83%, and in Somalia 82%.

Meanwhile, 85% of young people in Mozambique believe their country is heading in the wrong direction, alongside 80% in both Chad and Kenya and 76% in Nigeria.

The relationship between national mood and the economy is particularly striking. Where young people are positive about the direction of their country, they are generally positive about the national economy too. Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Somalia lead on both measures. Mozambique, Kenya and Chad are among the most pessimistic.

Job Security

Employment appears to be one of the main drivers behind optimism/pessimism.

In countries where anxiety about the lack of jobs has fallen sharply since 2024, optimism about national direction has tended to rise with it. Ethiopia offers the most dramatic example: concern about employment fell by 44 percentage points, while positive sentiment about the country’s direction rose by the same amount.

In Zambia, concern about jobs dropped by 41 points while optimism rose by 32; Ghana and Nigeria show the same broad pattern.

This perhaps gets closest to the core of what ‘Afro-Optimism’ means in practice. Young people are not optimistic in the abstract. Their confidence is tied to whether they can see routes into work, stability and a viable adult life.

Political Instability

For youth in Mozambique (36%), Congo Brazzaville (35%), and Burkina Faso (44%), political instability was the most impactful event of the past five years.

This sits within a wider regional picture in which parts of the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the African Great Lakes continue to face significant challenges around peace and security.

There are some interesting contradictions here. Despite political instability featuring so prominently in their recent experiences, 89% of young people in both Somalia and Burkina Faso say they are satisfied with their governments’ efforts to maintain political stability.

Elsewhere, the challenges are more overlapping. In Liberia and Zimbabwe, nearly a quarter of young people identify deaths from infectious disease as the most impactful event of the past five years, while the rising cost of living remains an equally pressing concern in Zimbabwe.

The priorities young people identify for Africa’s progress reflect these differences too. In Burkina Faso, 30% say achieving peace and stability is most important. In Zambia, 34% point instead to expanding access to basic needs and services, while in Chad, 23% identify modernising the education system as the priority.

Age gaps

Age adds another layer. Optimism peaks among 23-year-olds, while 18- and 19-year-olds are the least optimistic about their country’s future. Those aged 18 to 21 are also more likely than 22- to 24-year-olds to see job creation as an important marker of African progress.

It is not difficult to understand why. The youngest respondents are only just approaching the labour market, often without the cushion of established income or professional experience. For them, the cost-of-living crisis is not a distant economic concept; it shapes the conditions under which adulthood begins.

Job security and anti-corruption

When asked how participants feel, just over half, 51%, now describe themselves as optimistic or excited, compared with only 35% in 2024. Yet a third remain negative, and the proportion describing themselves specifically as “pessimistic” has edged up to 12% – the highest level recorded since the survey began in 2020.

Asked what matters most over the next five years, young Africans place creating new, well-paying jobs and reducing government corruption almost level, at 27% and 25% respectively. Economic security and political accountability are regarded as intertwined, and the role corruption plays in stifling economic opportunities feels pressing to the youth.

A lack of jobs becomes even more frustrating when young people believe corruption is limiting opportunity; rising prices feel harder to bear when governments are not seen to be delivering fairly.

This is perhaps the most important message in the chapter. Africa’s youth are more hopeful, but they are pragmatic, not complacent. They recognise progress while remaining alert to what is missing. They believe that their countries are moving forward, while questioning who benefits from that movement.

Optimism with demands

The return of Afro-Optimism, then, is not a return to uncomplicated faith in the future. It is something more conditional and arguably more politically significant: optimism with demands attached.

For governments, that should be both encouraging and uncomfortable. A generation that believes change is possible is also a generation more likely to expect results. Jobs, lower living costs, clean government and political stability are not abstract policy ambitions to these respondents. They are the measures by which progress is being judged.

Africa’s youth may be looking forward with more confidence than they were two years ago. But they are also looking closely.

We will publish more detailed reports on the major segments involved in the Youth Survey in coming issues.