This dataset provides values for ARABLE LAND PERCENT OF LAND AREA WB DATA.HTML reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Algeria is the biggest country in Africa, with an area exceeding 2.38 million square kilometers as of 2020. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan follow with a total area of around 2.34 million and 1.88 million square kilometers, respectively. On the other hand, Seychelles is the smallest country on the continent, with an area of only 460 square kilometers. Overall, Africa’s total area exceeds 30 million square kilometers, being the second largest continent in the world after Asia. Nigeria and Ethiopia lead the ranking of the most populated countries in Africa.

How have the African countries been formed?

The political geography of Africa has been influenced by its colonial history. Between the 19th and 20th Century, the European colonizers have divided up Africa. The partition of the territories was merely driven by strategic purposes: Borders between countries were artificially created in the absence of a geographic border. Following the decolonization, most countries gained their independence in the second half of the 1900s. The newest country in Africa is South Sudan, which became independent in 2011.

Africa's physical geography

Geographically, the African continent is mostly constituted by plains and tablelands. Inner plateaus are prevalent in the sub-Saharan region. In the center-north, the arid Sahara Desert extends for around nine million square kilometers, being the largest subtropical desert in the world. The continent also has some of the biggest water basins worldwide, namely the Nile, Congo, and Niger rivers. East Africa has, instead, the highest summit on the continent, the Kilimanjaro. Peaking at 5,895 meters, the mountain dominates Tanzania’s landscape and attracts thousands of climbers each year.

This dataset provides values for GDP reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

In 2019, the average household size in Sub-Saharan Africa was *** people per household, which was the largest average household size worldwide. In comparison, the smallest average household size was found in Europe, with *** people per household.

This dataset provides values for POPULATION reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

The Central African Republic: Population size, in millions: The latest value from is million, unavailable from million in . In comparison, the world average is 0.00 million, based on data from countries. Historically, the average for the Central African Republic from to is million. The minimum value, million, was reached in while the maximum of million was recorded in .

City population size is a crucial measure when trying to understand urban life. Many socio-economic indicators scale superlinearly with city size, whilst some infrastructure indicators scale sublinearly with city size. However, the impact of size also extends beyond the city’s limits. Here, we analyse the scaling behaviour of cities beyond their boundaries by considering the emergence and growth of nearby cities. Based on an urban network from African continental cities, we construct an algorithm to create the region of influence of cities. The number of cities and the population within a region of influence are then analysed in the context of urban scaling. Our results are compared against a random permutation of the network, showing that the observed scaling power of cities to enhance the emergence and growth of cities is not the result of randomness. By altering the radius of influence of cities, we observe three regimes. Large cities tend to be surrounded by many small towns for small distances. For medium distances (above 114 km), large cities are surrounded by many other cities containing large populations. Large cities boost urban emergence and growth (even more than 190 km away), but their scaling power decays with distance.

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa. As of 2025, the country counted over 237.5 million individuals, whereas Ethiopia, which ranked second, has around 135.5 million inhabitants. Egypt registered the largest population in North Africa, reaching nearly 118.4 million people. In terms of inhabitants per square kilometer, Nigeria only ranked seventh, while Mauritius had the highest population density on the whole African continent in 2023. The fastest-growing world region Africa is the second most populous continent in the world, after Asia. Nevertheless, Africa records the highest growth rate worldwide, with figures rising by over two percent every year. In some countries, such as Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad, the population increase peaks at over three percent. With so many births, Africa is also the youngest continent in the world. However, this coincides with a low life expectancy. African cities on the rise The last decades have seen high urbanization rates in Asia, mainly in China and India. However, African cities are currently growing at larger rates. Indeed, most of the fastest-growing cities in the world are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gwagwalada, in Nigeria, and Kabinda, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, ranked first worldwide. By 2035, instead, Africa's fastest-growing cities are forecast to be Bujumbura, in Burundi, and Zinder, Nigeria.

This map shows electricity access in Africa. The data source is from the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook. The International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook first constructed a database on electrification rates for WEO-2002. The database once again was updated for WEO-2015, showing detailed data on national, urban and rural electrification.

The general paucity of data on electricity access means that it must be gathered through a combination of sources, including: IEA energy statistics; a network of contacts spanning governments, multilateral development banks and country-level representatives of various international organisations; and, other publicly available statistics, such as US Agency for International Development (USAID) supported DHS survey data, the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS), the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s (ECLAC) statistical publications, and data from national statistics agencies. In the small number of cases where no data could be provided through these channels other sources were used. If electricity access data for 2013 was not available, data for the latest available year was used.

For many countries, data on the urban and rural breakdown was collected, but if not available an estimate was made on the basis of pre-existing data or a comparison to the average correlation between urban and national electrification rates. Often only the percentage of households with a connection is known and assumptions about an average household size are used to determine access rates as a percentage of the population. To estimate the number of people without access, population data comes from OECD statistics in conjunction with the United Nations Population Division reports World Urbanization Prospects: the 2014 Revision Population Database, and World Population Prospects: the 2012 Revision. Electricity access data is adjusted to be consistent with demographic patterns of urban and rural population. Due to differences in definitions and methodology from different sources, data quality may vary from country to country. Where country data appeared contradictory, outdated or unreliable, the IEA Secretariat made estimates based on cross-country comparisons and earlier surveys.

Middle East and Africa Product Comparison Website Market size is USD 525.02 million in 2024 and will expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.5% from 2024 to 2031.

The Central African Republic: Population size, number of people: The latest value from is people, unavailable from people in . In comparison, the world average is 0 people, based on data from countries. Historically, the average for the Central African Republic from to is people. The minimum value, people, was reached in while the maximum of people was recorded in .

South Africa: Population size, in number of people: The latest value from is people, unavailable from people in . In comparison, the world average is 0 people, based on data from countries. Historically, the average for South Africa from to is people. The minimum value, people, was reached in while the maximum of people was recorded in .

In 2023, the population of Africa was projected to grow by 2.34 percent compared to the previous year. The population growth rate on the continent has been constantly over 2.3 percent from 2000 onwards, and it peaked at 2.59 percent between 2012 and 2013. Despite a slowdown in the growth rate, the continent's population will continue to increase significantly in the coming years. The second-largest population worldwide In 2022, the total population of Africa amounted to around 1.4 billion. The number of inhabitants had grown steadily in the previous decades, rising from approximately 810 million in 2000. Driven by a decreasing mortality rate and a higher life expectancy at birth, the African population was forecast to increase to about 2.5 billion individuals by 2050. Africa is currently the second most populous continent worldwide after Asia. However, forecasts showed that Africa could gradually close the gap and almost reach the size of the Asian population in 2100. By that year, Africa might count 3.9 billion people, compared to 4.7 billion in Asia. The world's youngest continent The median age in Africa corresponded to 18.8 years in 2023. Although the median age has increased in recent years, the continent remains the youngest worldwide. In 2023, roughly 40 percent of the African population was aged 15 years and younger, compared to a global average of 25 percent. Africa recorded not only the highest share of youth but also the smallest elderly population worldwide. As of the same year, only three percent of Africa's population was aged 65 years and older. Africa and Latin America were the only regions below the global average of 10 percent. On the continent, Niger, Uganda, and Angola were the countries with the youngest population in 2023.

Abstract

The Afrobarometer project assesses attitudes and public opinion on democracy, markets, and civil society in several sub-Saharan African.This dataset was compiled from the studies in Round 2 of the Afrobarometer, conducted from 2002-2004 in 16 countries, including Botswana, Cape Verde, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Geographic coverage

The Round 2 Afrobarometer surveys have national coverage for the following countries: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Republic of Cabo Verde, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Analysis unit

Individuals

Universe

The sample universe for Afrobarometer surveys includes all citizens of voting age within the country. In other words, we exclude anyone who is not a citizen and anyone who has not attained this age (usually 18 years) on the day of the survey. Also excluded are areas determined to be either inaccessible or not relevant to the study, such as those experiencing armed conflict or natural disasters, as well as national parks and game reserves. As a matter of practice, we have also excluded people living in institutionalized settings, such as students in dormitories and persons in prisons or nursing homes.

What to do about areas experiencing political unrest? On the one hand we want to include them because they are politically important. On the other hand, we want to avoid stretching out the fieldwork over many months while we wait for the situation to settle down. It was agreed at the 2002 Cape Town Planning Workshop that it is difficult to come up with a general rule that will fit all imaginable circumstances. We will therefore make judgments on a case-by-case basis on whether or not to proceed with fieldwork or to exclude or substitute areas of conflict. National Partners are requested to consult Core Partners on any major delays, exclusions or substitutions of this sort.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Afrobarometer uses national probability samples designed to meet the following criteria. Samples are designed to generate a sample that is a representative cross-section of all citizens of voting age in a given country. The goal is to give every adult citizen an equal and known chance of being selected for an interview. They achieve this by:

• using random selection methods at every stage of sampling; • sampling at all stages with probability proportionate to population size wherever possible to ensure that larger (i.e., more populated) geographic units have a proportionally greater probability of being chosen into the sample.

The sampling universe normally includes all citizens age 18 and older. As a standard practice, we exclude people living in institutionalized settings, such as students in dormitories, patients in hospitals, and persons in prisons or nursing homes. Occasionally, we must also exclude people living in areas determined to be inaccessible due to conflict or insecurity. Any such exclusion is noted in the technical information report (TIR) that accompanies each data set.

Sample size and design Samples usually include either 1,200 or 2,400 cases. A randomly selected sample of n=1200 cases allows inferences to national adult populations with a margin of sampling error of no more than +/-2.8% with a confidence level of 95 percent. With a sample size of n=2400, the margin of error decreases to +/-2.0% at 95 percent confidence level.

The sample design is a clustered, stratified, multi-stage, area probability sample. Specifically, we first stratify the sample according to the main sub-national unit of government (state, province, region, etc.) and by urban or rural location.

Area stratification reduces the likelihood that distinctive ethnic or language groups are left out of the sample. Afrobarometer occasionally purposely oversamples certain populations that are politically significant within a country to ensure that the size of the sub-sample is large enough to be analysed. Any oversamples is noted in the TIR.

Sample stages Samples are drawn in either four or five stages:

Stage 1: In rural areas only, the first stage is to draw secondary sampling units (SSUs). SSUs are not used in urban areas, and in some countries they are not used in rural areas. See the TIR that accompanies each data set for specific details on the sample in any given country. Stage 2: We randomly select primary sampling units (PSU). Stage 3: We then randomly select sampling start points. Stage 4: Interviewers then randomly select households. Stage 5: Within the household, the interviewer randomly selects an individual respondent. Each interviewer alternates in each household between interviewing a man and interviewing a woman to ensure gender balance in the sample.

To keep the costs and logistics of fieldwork within manageable limits, eight interviews are clustered within each selected PSU.

Data weights For some national surveys, data are weighted to correct for over or under-sampling or for household size. "Withinwt" should be turned on for all national -level descriptive statistics in countries that contain this weighting variable. It is included as the last variable in the data set, with details described in the codebook. For merged data sets, "Combinwt" should be turned on for cross-national comparisons of descriptive statistics. Note: this weighting variable standardizes each national sample as if it were equal in size.

Further information on sampling protocols, including full details of the methodologies used for each stage of sample selection, can be found at https://afrobarometer.org/surveys-and-methods/sampling-principles

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Certain questions in the questionnaires for the Afrobarometer 2 survey addressed country-specific issues, but many of the same questions were asked across surveys. Citizens of the 16 countries were asked questions about their economic and social situations, and their opinions were elicited on recent political and economic changes within their country.

South Africa's GDP was estimated at just over 403 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, the highest in Africa. Egypt followed, with a GDP worth around 380 billion U.S. dollars, and ranked as the second-highest on the continent. Algeria ranked third, with about 260 billion U.S. dollars. These African economies are among some of the fastest-growing economies worldwide. Dependency on oil For some African countries, the oil industry represents an enormous source of income. In Nigeria, oil generates over five percent of the country’s GDP in the third quarter of 2023. However, economies such as the Libyan, Algerian, or Angolan are even much more dependent on the oil sector. In Libya, for instance, oil rents account for over 40 percent of the GDP. Indeed, Libya is one of the economies most dependent on oil worldwide. Similarly, oil represents for some of Africa’s largest economies a substantial source of export value. The giants do not make the ranking Most of Africa’s largest economies do not appear in the leading ten African countries for GDP per capita. The GDP per capita is calculated by dividing a country’s GDP by its population. Therefore, a populated country with a low total GDP will have a low GDP per capita, while a small rich nation has a high GDP per capita. For instance, South Africa has Africa’s highest GDP, but also counts the sixth-largest population, so wealth has to be divided into its big population. The GDP per capita also indicates how a country’s wealth reaches each of its citizens. In Africa, Seychelles has the greatest GDP per capita.

This dataset provides values for GDP PER CAPITA reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Aim: Predict empirically the current and recent-historical (c. 1970) landscape connectivity and population size of the African lion as a baseline against which to assess conservation of the species. Location: Continental Africa. Methods: We compiled historical records of lion distribution to generate a recent-historical range for the species. Historical population size was predicted using a generalised additive model. Resistant kernel and factorial least-cost path analyses were used to predict recent-historical landscape connectivity and compare this with contemporary connectivity at continental, regional and country scales. Results: We estimate a baseline population of ~92,054 (83,017 – 101,094 95% CI) lions in c1970, suggesting Africa’s lion population has declined by ~75%, over the last five decades. Although greatly reduced from historical extents (c. 1500 AD), recent-historical lion habitat was substantially connected. However, in comparison, contemporary population connectivity ha...

Abstract

The Afrobarometer is a comparative series of public attitude surveys that assess African citizen's attitudes to democracy and governance, markets, and civil society, among other topics. The surveys have been undertaken at periodic intervals since 1999. The Afrobarometer's coverage has increased over time. Round 1 (1999-2001) initially covered 7 countires and was later extended to 12 countries. Round 2 (2002-2004) surveyed citizens in 16 countries. Round 3 (2005-2006) 18 countries, and Round 4 (2008) 20 countries.The survey covered 34 countries in Round 5 (2011-2013) and 36 countries in Round 6 (2014-2015). The 34 African countries covered in Round 6 (2014-2015) are:

Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, eSwatini, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Geographic coverage

The survey has national coverage in the following 34 African countries: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, eSwatini, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Analysis unit

Households and individuals

Universe

The sample universe for Afrobarometer surveys includes all citizens of voting age within the country. In other words, we exclude anyone who is not a citizen and anyone who has not attained this age (usually 18 years) on the day of the survey. Also excluded are areas determined to be either inaccessible or not relevant to the study, such as those experiencing armed conflict or natural disasters, as well as national parks and game reserves. As a matter of practice, we have also excluded people living in institutionalized settings, such as students in dormitories and persons in prisons or nursing homes.

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

Afrobarometer uses national probability samples designed to meet the following criteria. Samples are designed to generate a sample that is a representative cross-section of all citizens of voting age in a given country. The goal is to give every adult citizen an equal and known chance of being selected for an interview. They achieve this by:

• using random selection methods at every stage of sampling; • sampling at all stages with probability proportionate to population size wherever possible to ensure that larger (i.e., more populated) geographic units have a proportionally greater probability of being chosen into the sample.

The sampling universe normally includes all citizens age 18 and older. As a standard practice, we exclude people living in institutionalised settings, such as students in dormitories, patients in hospitals, and persons in prisons or nursing homes. Occasionally, we must also exclude people living in areas determined to be inaccessible due to conflict or insecurity. Any such exclusion is noted in the technical information report (TIR) that accompanies each data set.

Sample size and design Samples usually include either 1,200 or 2,400 cases. A randomly selected sample of n=1200 cases allows inferences to national adult populations with a margin of sampling error of no more than +/-2.8% with a confidence level of 95 percent. With a sample size of n=2400, the margin of error decreases to +/-2.0% at 95 percent confidence level.

The sample design is a clustered, stratified, multi-stage, area probability sample. Specifically, we first stratify the sample according to the main sub-national unit of government (state, province, region, etc.) and by urban or rural location.

Area stratification reduces the likelihood that distinctive ethnic or language groups are left out of the sample. Afrobarometer occasionally purposely oversamples certain populations that are politically significant within a country to ensure that the size of the sub-sample is large enough to be analysed. Any oversamples is noted in the TIR.

Sample stages Samples are drawn in either four or five stages:

Stage 1: In rural areas only, the first stage is to draw secondary sampling units (SSUs). SSUs are not used in urban areas, and in some countries they are not used in rural areas. See the TIR that accompanies each data set for specific details on the sample in any given country. Stage 2: We randomly select primary sampling units (PSU). Stage 3: We then randomly select sampling start points. Stage 4: Interviewers then randomly select households. Stage 5: Within the household, the interviewer randomly selects an individual respondent. Each interviewers alternates in each household between interviewing a man and interviewing a woman to ensure gender balance in the sample.

To keep the costs and logistics of fieldwork within manageable limits, eight interviews are clustered within each selected PSU.

Data weights For some national surveys, data are weighted to correct for over or under-sampling or for household size. "Withinwt" should be turned on for all national -level descriptive statistics in countries that contain this weighting variable. It is included as the last variable in the data set, with details described in the codebook. For merged data sets, "Combinwt" should be turned on for cross-national comparisons of descriptive statistics. Note: this weighting variable standardizes each national sample as if it were equal in size.

Further information on sampling protocols, including full details of the methodologies used for each stage of sample selection, can be found in Section 5 of the Afrobarometer Round 5 Survey Manual

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire for Round 3 addressed country-specific issues, but many of the same questions were asked across surveys. The survey instruments were not standardized across all countries and the following features should be noted:

• In the seven countries that originally formed the Southern Africa Barometer (SAB) - Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - a standardized questionnaire was used, so question wording and response categories are the generally the same for all of these countries. The questionnaires in Mali and Tanzania were also essentially identical (in the original English version). Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria each had distinct questionnaires.

• This merged dataset combines, into a single variable, responses from across these different countries where either identical or very similar questions were used, or where conceptually equivalent questions can be found in at least nine of the different countries. For each variable, the exact question text from each of the countries or groups of countries ("SAB" refers to the Southern Africa Barometer countries) is listed.

• Response options also varied on some questions, and where applicable, these differences are also noted.

Abstract

The Afrobarometer is a comparative series of public attitude surveys that assess African citizen's attitudes to democracy and governance, markets, and civil society, among other topics. The surveys have been undertaken at periodic intervals since 1999. The Afrobarometer's coverage has increased over time. Round 1 (1999-2001) initially covered 7 countries and was later extended to 12 countries. Round 2 (2002-2004) surveyed citizens in 16 countries. Round 3 (2005-2006) 18 countries, Round 4 (2008) 20 countries, Round 5 (2011-2013) 34 countries, and Round 6 (2014-2015) 36 countries. The survey covered 34 countries in Round 7 (2016-2018).

Geographic coverage

The survey has national coverage in the following 34 African countries: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, eSwatini, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Analysis unit

Individuals

Universe

The sample universe for Afrobarometer surveys includes all citizens of voting age within the country. In other words, we exclude anyone who is not a citizen and anyone who has not attained this age (usually 18 years) on the day of the survey. Also excluded are areas determined to be either inaccessible or not relevant to the study, such as those experiencing armed conflict or natural disasters, as well as national parks and game reserves. As a matter of practice, we have also excluded people living in institutionalized settings, such as students in dormitories and persons in prisons or nursing homes.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Afrobarometer uses national probability samples designed to meet the following criteria. Samples are designed to generate a sample that is a representative cross-section of all citizens of voting age in a given country. The goal is to give every adult citizen an equal and known chance of being selected for an interview. They achieve this by:

• using random selection methods at every stage of sampling; • sampling at all stages with probability proportionate to population size wherever possible to ensure that larger (i.e., more populated) geographic units have a proportionally greater probability of being chosen into the sample.

The sampling universe normally includes all citizens age 18 and older. As a standard practice, we exclude people living in institutionalized settings, such as students in dormitories, patients in hospitals, and persons in prisons or nursing homes. Occasionally, we must also exclude people living in areas determined to be inaccessible due to conflict or insecurity. Any such exclusion is noted in the technical information report (TIR) that accompanies each data set.

Sample size and design Samples usually include either 1,200 or 2,400 cases. A randomly selected sample of n=1200 cases allows inferences to national adult populations with a margin of sampling error of no more than +/-2.8% with a confidence level of 95 percent. With a sample size of n=2400, the margin of error decreases to +/-2.0% at 95 percent confidence level.

The sample design is a clustered, stratified, multi-stage, area probability sample. Specifically, we first stratify the sample according to the main sub-national unit of government (state, province, region, etc.) and by urban or rural location.

Area stratification reduces the likelihood that distinctive ethnic or language groups are left out of the sample. Afrobarometer occasionally purposely oversamples certain populations that are politically significant within a country to ensure that the size of the sub-sample is large enough to be analysed. Any oversamples is noted in the TIR.

Sample stages Samples are drawn in either four or five stages:

Stage 1: In rural areas only, the first stage is to draw secondary sampling units (SSUs). SSUs are not used in urban areas, and in some countries they are not used in rural areas. See the TIR that accompanies each data set for specific details on the sample in any given country. Stage 2: We randomly select primary sampling units (PSU). Stage 3: We then randomly select sampling start points. Stage 4: Interviewers then randomly select households. Stage 5: Within the household, the interviewer randomly selects an individual respondent. Each interviewer alternates in each household between interviewing a man and interviewing a woman to ensure gender balance in the sample.

To keep the costs and logistics of fieldwork within manageable limits, eight interviews are clustered within each selected PSU.

Data weights For some national surveys, data are weighted to correct for over or under-sampling or for household size. "Withinwt" should be turned on for all national -level descriptive statistics in countries that contain this weighting variable. It is included as the last variable in the data set, with details described in the codebook. For merged data sets, "Combinwt" should be turned on for cross-national comparisons of descriptive statistics. Note: this weighting variable standardizes each national sample as if it were equal in size.

Further information on sampling protocols, including full details of the methodologies used for each stage of sample selection, can be found at https://afrobarometer.org/surveys-and-methods/sampling-principles

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire for Round 7 addressed country-specific issues, but many of the same questions were asked across surveys. The survey instruments were not standardized across all countries and the following features should be noted:

• In the seven countries that originally formed the Southern Africa Barometer (SAB) - Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - a standardized questionnaire was used, so question wording and response categories are the generally the same for all of these countries. The questionnaires in Mali and Tanzania were also essentially identical (in the original English version). Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria each had distinct questionnaires.

• This merged dataset combines, into a single variable, responses from across these different countries where either identical or very similar questions were used, or where conceptually equivalent questions can be found in at least nine of the different countries. For each variable, the exact question text from each of the countries or groups of countries ("SAB" refers to the Southern Africa Barometer countries) is listed.

• Response options also varied on some questions, and where applicable, these differences are also noted.

Abstract

The Afrobarometer is a comparative series of public attitude surveys that assess African citizen's attitudes to democracy and governance, markets, and civil society, among other topics. The surveys have been undertaken at periodic intervals since 1999. The Afrobarometer's coverage has increased over time. Round 1 (1999-2001) initially covered 7 countires and was later extended to 12 countries. Round 2 (2002-2004) surveyed citizens in 16 countries. Round 3 (2005-2006) 18 countries, and Round 4 (2008) 20 countries.The survey covered 34 countries in Round 5 (2011-2013), 36 countries in Round 6 (2014-2015), 34 countries in Round 7 (2016-2018), and 34 countries in Round 8 (2019-2021). Round 9 covered 39 African countries. The 39 countries covered in Round 9 (2021-2023) are: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Congo-Brazaville, Côte d'Ivoire, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Geographic coverage

The survey has national coverage in the following 39 African countries: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Congo-Brazaville, Côte d'Ivoire, eSwatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome & Principe, Seychelles, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Analysis unit

Households and individuals

Universe

The sample universe for Afrobarometer surveys includes all citizens of voting age within the country. In other words, we exclude anyone who is not a citizen and anyone who has not attained this age (usually 18 years) on the day of the survey. Also excluded are areas determined to be either inaccessible or not relevant to the study, such as those experiencing armed conflict or natural disasters, as well as national parks and game reserves. As a matter of practice, we have also excluded people living in institutionalized settings, such as students in dormitories and persons in prisons or nursing homes.

Kind of data

Survey data

Sampling procedure

Afrobarometer uses national probability samples designed to meet the following criteria. Samples are designed to generate a sample that is a representative cross-section of all citizens of voting age in a given country. The goal is to give every adult citizen an equal and known chance of being selected for an interview. They achieve this by:

• using random selection methods at every stage of sampling; • sampling at all stages with probability proportionate to population size wherever possible to ensure that larger (i.e., more populated) geographic units have a proportionally greater probability of being chosen into the sample.

The sampling universe normally includes all citizens age 18 and older. As a standard practice, we exclude people living in institutionalised settings, such as students in dormitories, patients in hospitals, and persons in prisons or nursing homes. Occasionally, we must also exclude people living in areas determined to be inaccessible due to conflict or insecurity. Any such exclusion is noted in the technical information report (TIR) that accompanies each data set.

Sample size and design Samples usually include either 1,200 or 2,400 cases. A randomly selected sample of n=1200 cases allows inferences to national adult populations with a margin of sampling error of no more than +/-2.8% with a confidence level of 95 percent. With a sample size of n=2400, the margin of error decreases to +/-2.0% at 95 percent confidence level.

The sample design is a clustered, stratified, multi-stage, area probability sample. Specifically, we first stratify the sample according to the main sub-national unit of government (state, province, region, etc.) and by urban or rural location.

Area stratification reduces the likelihood that distinctive ethnic or language groups are left out of the sample. Afrobarometer occasionally purposely oversamples certain populations that are politically significant within a country to ensure that the size of the sub-sample is large enough to be analysed. Any oversamples is noted in the TIR.

Sample stages Samples are drawn in either four or five stages:

Stage 1: In rural areas only, the first stage is to draw secondary sampling units (SSUs). SSUs are not used in urban areas, and in some countries they are not used in rural areas. See the TIR that accompanies each data set for specific details on the sample in any given country. Stage 2: We randomly select primary sampling units (PSU). Stage 3: We then randomly select sampling start points. Stage 4: Interviewers then randomly select households. Stage 5: Within the household, the interviewer randomly selects an individual respondent. Each interviewers alternates in each household between interviewing a man and interviewing a woman to ensure gender balance in the sample.

To keep the costs and logistics of fieldwork within manageable limits, eight interviews are clustered within each selected PSU.

Data weights For some national surveys, data are weighted to correct for over or under-sampling or for household size. "Withinwt" should be turned on for all national -level descriptive statistics in countries that contain this weighting variable. It is included as the last variable in the data set, with details described in the codebook. For merged data sets, "Combinwt" should be turned on for cross-national comparisons of descriptive statistics. Note: this weighting variable standardizes each national sample as if it were equal in size.

Further information on sampling protocols, including full details of the methodologies used for each stage of sample selection, can be found in Section 5 of the Afrobarometer Round 5 Survey Manual

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face

Research instrument

The questionnaire for Round 3 addressed country-specific issues, but many of the same questions were asked across surveys. The survey instruments were not standardized across all countries and the following features should be noted:

• In the seven countries that originally formed the Southern Africa Barometer (SAB) - Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - a standardized questionnaire was used, so question wording and response categories are the generally the same for all of these countries. The questionnaires in Mali and Tanzania were also essentially identical (in the original English version). Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria each had distinct questionnaires.

• This merged dataset combines, into a single variable, responses from across these different countries where either identical or very similar questions were used, or where conceptually equivalent questions can be found in at least nine of the different countries. For each variable, the exact question text from each of the countries or groups of countries ("SAB" refers to the Southern Africa Barometer countries) is listed.

• Response options also varied on some questions, and where applicable, these differences are also noted.