Unveiling the Path to Sustainability in Africa: Insights from Education, Resource Management, and Economic Complexity

Africa’s journey toward sustainable development continues to face persistent challenges linked to resource dependency, weak institutional frameworks, and uneven progress in human capital formation. This study explores how education, natural resource exploitation, banking sector development, and economic complexity interact to shape sustainability across 39 African countries between 2007 and 2022. Relying on robust econometric approaches—Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS), Driscoll–Kraay estimators, and Quantile-on-Quantile regression—the analysis uncovers diverse effects depending on countries’ income levels and degrees of sustainability. The results show that education consistently promotes sustainability, whereas natural resource extraction tends to undermine it in less developed contexts but becomes a positive driver where governance and institutional quality are stronger. Similarly, banking sector development plays a dual role: it constrains sustainability in shallow financial systems yet fosters green investment and inclusive growth in more mature markets. These findings offer practical insights for policymakers across Africa seeking to align national priorities with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Strengthening education, improving transparency in resource governance, and promoting innovative and inclusive finance emerge as key levers to advance long-term sustainability on the continent. JEL Classifications: Q01, I25, O55, Q32, G21, O43.