Economic Transformation Strategy
CHAPTER 1 / INTRODUCTION
.
• Seychelles has engaged in international commitments with its development partners, both bilateral and unilateral.
These agreements call on Seychelles, as a signatory country, to implement certain actions and policy directives in
specific fields of interest, to be in line with international standards and best practices.
(i) One of the most notable commitments was to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This is founded
on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs (or Global Goals for Sustainable Development) are a col-
lection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations in 2015. The goals are broad and interdependent, yet each has
a separate list of targets to achieve. Achieving all 169 targets would signal the accomplishment of all 17 goals. The
SDGs cover social and economic development issues including poverty, hunger, health, education, global warming,
gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, urbanisation, environment and social justice.
(ii) Agenda 2063 is a strategic framework for the socioeconomic transformation of the African continent over the
next 50 years. It builds on, and seeks to accelerate the implementation of past and existing continental initiatives for
growth and sustainable development. Agenda 2063 has a total of seven aspirations, follows a bottom-up approach
and is result-oriented. Goals, targets and strategies have been set in each aspirational area for the national, regional
and continental stakeholders and levels. The targets will form the basis for holding stakeholders accountable for
performance.
1.3
TRENDS
Demography and migration
The current global population of 7.3 billion is expected to reach 8.5 billion by 2030; 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion
in 2100, according to the UN. Most of the projected increase in the world's population can be attributed to a short
list of high-fertility countries, mainly in Africa, or countries with already large populations. During 2015-2050, half of
the world's population growth is expected to be concentrated in Africa and Asia. With the highest rate of population
growth, Africa is expected to account for more than half of the world's population growth between 2015 and 2050. As a
small island developing state (SIDS), Seychelles is expected to face an increasingly ageing population over the coming
years. Official estimates project the population of Seychelles will be 104,289 by the year 20303.
Migration is perhaps the most difficult variable to make assumptions on regarding its future course. This is because
migration flows often result from short term changes in economic, social or political factors that are hard to predict
or quantify. Nonetheless, its impact on population structure and trends is also a major issue, as it affects population
growth, age and sex structures and related dependency ratio. Globally, the refugee crisis in Europe saw increasing
numbers of people fleeing hardship such as war, famine and ethnic persecution. In the case of Seychelles, internation-
al net migration has fluctuated considerably. Recent growth in net migration has been attributed to the large amount
of imported labour, mostly brought in to support the tourism and construction industries. This has also supported
Seychelles' strong economic performance over the past decade. Furthermore, given the number of expatriate workers
represent almost half the total employed workforce, this suggests that current (and future economic growth) will be
dependent on migrant labour.
3 National Bureau of Statistics: Seychelles population projection 2014-2080.
30
50View entire presentation