UN General Assembly
1984

32. The situation has been and continues to be even more critical in the developing countries, some of which have the weakest national economies in the world. For these and, therefore, for the many millions of the world's population, the effects of the worsening world economic situation have been really catastrophic. In Africa, our fragile economies have been experiencing negative growth rates, and per capita incomes have actually dropped to about 4 per cent below the 1970 levels. This drop in per capita incomes clearly spells grave socio-political consequences when viewed against the fact that Africa's population growth rate is 3 per cent per annum. In many parts of the continent, too, successive years of drought have resulted in complete crop failures and threatened the very viability of agriculture, on which millions of the continent's population depend for sustenance and gainful employment. Africa's problem is further compounded by other natural factors, including desertification, the siltation of riverbeds and, in some cases, flooding too.