Nigeria, Dec. 8 -- Structural inequalities in societal laws and institutions are at the core of Africa's slow progress in scaling back extreme poverty, according to a new report by the World Bank Group.

The flagship publication titled 'Leveling the Playing Field: Addressing Structural Inequalities to Accelerate Poverty in Africa' noted that growth in the region, which accounts for over three-fifths of the world's population of extremely poor people, has been weaker, more challenging, and prone to external headwinds in the last decade.

The arrested growth, the report stated, happened amid climate change, fragility and debt pressures across countries on the continent, which found it more difficult compared to the rest of the world to tran...