This Survey was requested at an early session of the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, but it has not proved possible to prepare it until now because of the shortage ofstaff available for research work and the paucity of information. An earlier Survey was prepared in the U.N. Headquarters, on the basis of the material available there—The Economic Development of Africa since 1950— but it took the story only up to 1956, and thus did not cover the main changes at, and after, the achievement of political independence.