The savings effort in developing countries during the 1980s remained surprisingly large on the whole, the average savings rate being 23.6% of GDP in 1987, or about the same as in 1973 before the first sharp increase in oil prices. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the savings rate was less than half the average in the rest of the third world - namely, 10.9% in 1987 - and much below the rate of savings achieved in 1973 - namely, 17.5%. In this region a major effort will be required in the coming decade to raise the savings rate to a level compatible with the minimum desired rate of growth. Failure to do so will almost certainly result in further impoverishment.
This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.