This paper investigates the effects of education, poverty, trade volume, ICT development, and GDP per capita on sustainability in 15 of Africa's largest economies from 1999 to 2019 using an autoregressive-distributed lag model. Higher tertiary education rates positively correlate with sustainability, while higher poverty rates negatively correlate with it. Increased trade volumes are associated with decreased sustainability, and ICT development has a significant positive impact. Interestingly, higher GDP per capita is linked to lower sustainability, possibly due to unsustainable consumption patterns. Policy recommendations focus on education, poverty reduction, and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Xiaoyu Zhang