Jordan Peterson on economics: what the evidence says · JRE #1769
SUBJECT: ECONOMICS
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Africa has the fastest growing economies in the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Peterson claimed Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa in particular, has the fastest-growing economies in the world. World Bank data show sub-Saharan African growth was 3.3% in 2024, projected to rise to 3.5% in 2025 and 4.3% in 2026-27, a solid recovery but not a global extreme. By contrast, the World Bank's South Asia Economic Update explicitly states that South Asia, driven largely by India's strong performance, "continues to be the world's fastest-growing region," even after a projected 2026 slowdown tied to global energy market disruptions. Some individual sub-Saharan African economies have posted high growth rates in specific years, but as a regional bloc sub-Saharan Africa's growth trails South Asia's over the relevant period and does not constitute the single fastest-growing set of economies worldwide. The claim, framed as a blanket regional statement, overstates the data and is best characterized as misleading.