This background paper examines how Africa’s sovereign debt burdens restrict investment in children and how coordinated debt standstills could unlock resources for early childhood development (ECD).
Africa’s debt reached $1.2 trillion in 2024/26, with annual interest payments of $123 billion—funds that could instead finance universal healthcare, childcare, and child benefits. Redirecting just 3% of GDP from debt service to social policies could:
- Lift 166 million people out of extreme poverty,
- Save up to 4 million young lives annually, and
- Enable 50 million women to join the formal workforce.
The paper stresses the power of universal measures—child benefits, maternity leave, childcare, and expanded healthcare—to amplify the impact of social spending. It calls on the G20 to establish a debt standstill initiative that channels fiscal space into child well-being, helping to end preventable child deaths and build long-term economic resilience.
This paper is part of the Generation Debt: From Crisis to Opportunity for Africa’s Youngest Children project.
