Africa’s demographic future is arriving faster than most policymakers are prepared for. 

In this episode of Per Capita, Joe Waters speaks with Blessing Adesiyan, Founder and Chief Care Officer of Caring Africa, about how rapid population growth, urbanization, and changing family structures are creating an urgent care crisis in Nigeria. With nearly half of the country’s population under 15 and a growing elderly population, families and workers are increasingly overstretched by care responsibilities in systems that remain largely informal and unregulated.

Blessing argues that care must be treated as essential infrastructure, not a private family matter. She describes how the absence of professionalized, affordable care limits women’s workforce participation, limits productivity, and grows inequality.

The lack of existing policy and regulation is a unique opportunity to design modern, inclusive care systems from the ground up. From public policy to private investment, building a robust care economy is not only a social imperative, but a foundation for long-term economic growth across the African continent.

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