Cameroon has an estimated total population of 25.48 million as of July 2021, 50.6% of whom are women and nearly 54% of the population is made up of young people under 20. Young people under 15 represent 42.5% of the entire population, while those over 65 represent just 3.6%. The country has more than 230 ethnic groups belonging to the major Sudanese, Hamite, Semite, Bantu, semi-Bantu, and Pygmy groups. French and English are the official languages, with an additional nearly 257 local languages [3].

The population of Cameroon is very unevenly distributed over the national territory [3]. Its average density in 2021 was estimated at 56 inhabitants/km², but this varies from 7 to 200 inhabitants/km² depending on the region. This disparate density is a major determinant of the degradation of arable land and forest landscapes in the country, strongly marked in the northern part and the western highlands. Further, Cameroon is experiencing rapid population growth, estimated at an annual population growth rate of 2.5%, which reaches about 4.3% in the country’s cities [2].

Anarchic urbanization in Cameroon is one of the most remarkable phenomena of recent years. The rate of urbanization went from 52% in 2010 to 57% in 2019 [2]. As a result of this anarchic urbanization, slums are an ongoing and dominant feature of Cameroon's urban centres. More than half of Cameroonians now live in towns and cities, and an estimated 60% of those are living in informal settlements and slums [4]. By 2050, 70% of the population will live in urban areas, including two thirds in slums, if current trends are not reversed. According to projections, Yaoundé and Douala with about 3 million inhabitants each, could reach 8 million inhabitants by 2050 [5].

Cameroon is a lower-middle-income country, endowed with rich natural resources, including oil and gas, mineral ores, and high-value species of timber, and agricultural products, such as coffee, cotton, cocoa, maize, and cassava [6]. Cameroon’s economy is one of the most diversified in Africa. Although the secondary (22% of GDP) and tertiary (45%) sectors are well developed, the economy nevertheless relies mainly on production sectors: agriculture, livestock, fishing and aquaculture, forestry, and silviculture. According to the country’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), agriculture employs nearly 60% of the population and remains the predominant sector of the national economy both in its contribution to GDP (23%) and for its knock-on effects on other sectors of activity. The main cash crops in Cameroon are cocoa, coffee, tobacco, cotton, bananas and pepper [2].

Unemployment is a low-level phenomenon in Cameroon, though its level in 2021 (5.3%) has increased compared to 2010 (3.8%). It is higher among women (6.2%) than men (4.5%) and is more severe in urban areas (10.5%) than in rural areas (1.7%). On the other hand, underemployment remains significant across the country, although it has fallen slightly in recent years. The overall underemployment rate fell by four percentage points from 69% in 2010 to 65% in 2021 [3]. If education and employment opportunities were more equally distributed and accessible in the country, Cameroon’s young population could become an economic asset [7].

Over the past decade, Cameroon's growth and development trajectory has shown an upward trend [3], though real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has not exceeded 4.5%. The country experienced an economic slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic [8] (0.5% in 2020) [3], which affected poor and vulnerable populations disproportionately, as they tend to work in agriculture and informal sectors [8]. However, Cameroon proved resilient to the COVID-19 shock [9]. In 2021, GDP growth picked up to 3.5%, driven by the revival of non-oil activity and continued investment [10]. Though, since November 2021, Cameroon has been experiencing high inflation, driven mainly by shortage and increase of the price of staple goods (bread, wheat and related products, vegetable oil, and meat), which can be explained by the disruption of the global value chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. The war in Ukraine has impeded Cameroon's economic recovery, heightening inflation pressures and domestic structural vulnerabilities [6]. Additionally, prolonged shortages and high prices of fertilizers have raised food security challenges in the country. However, despite the uncertain global environment, real GDP growth in Cameroon is estimated at 3.4% in 2022 and is projected to reach 4.3% in 2023 [9].

While Cameroon experienced consistent economic growth averaging 4.5% from 2010 to 2019, poverty levels have remained high [8], [11]. Available studies on poverty in Cameroon indicate that the incidence of poverty fell by 2.4% between 2007 and 2014, to stand at 37.5% in 2014. In other words, nearly 8.1 million Cameroonians were living below the poverty line in 2014, including 8.9% in urban areas and 56.8% in rural areas [3]. These figures reflect the unequal distribution of wealth and growth across the country, with the majority of poor households living in rural areas [7]. This is the case of the Far North, North and North West regions, which are affected in particular by security problems and the influx of internally displaced persons [3]. Between 2014 and 2018, poverty slightly declined by 1.9 percentage points, with 35.6% of the population still living below the national poverty line in 2018 [8].

In recent years, Cameroon has made great progress in technological development and innovation. For example, the subscription rate to broadband access services per 100 inhabitants increased significantly in 2020 to 2.72 subscribers per 100 inhabitants, from an average of 1.5 subscribers over the period 2016-2019, attributable to the significant use of digital technology during the COVID-19 period. Additionally, the proportion of the population using the internet has increased sharply, rising from 18.3% to 37.8% users between 2015 and 2020. To further facilitate access to the internet, the institutional environment has also been strengthened with the establishment of 2 main entities in charge of regulating the telecommunications and ICT sector, namely the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART) and the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ANTIC). Furthermore, in terms of infrastructure, Cameroon has strengthened the main backbone of its fiber optic network (national backbone) with a linear 12,000 kilometers covering all 10 administrative regions of the country, with ramps to neighbouring countries including Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, CAR and Nigeria, and with the support of partners including the World Bank, UNDP, AfDB and Brazil [3].

By implementing Cameroon’s National Development Strategy 2020-2030, the country intends to further promote technological catch-up and development, to accelerate the structural transformation of the economy and bring inclusive development [12]. Further, with technical support from the PSF (Policy Support Facility) service, the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation (MINRESI) is developing a first national Research and Innovation strategy to develop an inclusive, knowledge-based economy. The PSF service will contribute to, among others: creating a bridge between research and the business world by strengthening public-private partnerships; promoting open science; addressing societal challenges, related to food sovereignty, population health, climate change, and endogenous industrialisation; boosting international cooperation in the field of research; valuing indigenous knowledge; reducing the gender gap in STEM; and making research a lever for the employability of young graduates [13].

Since 2013, Cameroon has been facing major security crises: (i) the crisis in the Far North Region due to attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram affiliated with the Islamic State in West Africa; (ii) the socio-political crisis in the North-West and South-West regions, which has deprived approximately 700,000 children of the right to education; and (iii) the Central African refugee crisis due to post-conflict political instability in the Central African Republic [3]. As of 2022, an estimated 3.9 million people in Cameroon are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection [14].