Angola celebrates 50 years of independence as social inequalities persist

Angola will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of its independence from Portugal this Tuesday. The country declared its independence on 11 November 1975, at the end of a 13-year war.

The event took place in dramatic circumstances, with the nationalist forces of the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) engaging in a civil war that lasted close to three decades.

Commemorations of the independence's anniversary have been ongoing throughout the year, but beyond the celebrations of this historic milestone, many Angolans still face significant social and economic struggles.

After 50 years, despite progress in infrastructure and urban development, issues related to poverty, unemployment or access to education and healthcare remain.

As of 2018, about a third of the Angolan population lived under the international poverty line of $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.

The same data found that about 16.5 million Angolans, or 52.9% of the population, lived on less than $3.65 per person per day — the international poverty line for lower-middle income countries.

"My life is difficult. I can’t earn money or buy better clothes, but what’s really wearing us down is the hunger," said Adelina, who works as a vendor at Kikolo market in Luanda.

"We don’t have a permanent place to live, we don’t have a salary, we don’t have husbands," she added.

The situation is especially difficult for young people. Angola's youth unemployment rate has been steadily declining for the past 15 years — except for a peak in 2020 — but remains at 27.9% as of 2024, compared to 14.5% for the total labour force, according to the World Bank.

"We want young people to have jobs [and] we also want society to give more support to the youth, because it is through the youth that we can help the country grow," said Daniel, a young Luanda resident.