As of April 2025, South Africa's GDP was estimated at over 410 billion U.S. dollars, the highest in Africa. Egypt followed, with a GDP worth around 347 billion U.S. dollars, and ranked as the second-highest on the continent. Algeria ranked third, with nearly 269 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.

The North-African nation Morocco ranked first among the African countries with the most international tourist arrivals, accounting for almost **** million arrivals in 2024. Following in second place and third place were Egypt and Tunisia, which received around **** million and **** million arrivals, respectively.    Which is the top tourist spot?  Egypt ranked first in terms of international tourism receipts in 2023, which amounted to approximately **** billion U.S. dollars. Morocco, South Africa, and Tanzania followed, with international tourist receipts of around **** billion, *** billion, and *** billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Furthermore, Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa have been the three leading countries since 2019. Regarding the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) in Africa in 2024, which measures factors and policies that make a country eligible for investments in the travel and tourism sector, South Africa, Mauritius, and Egypt held the top spots. South Africa received a TTCI score of **** out of seven, while Mauritius and Egypt received **** and **** points, respectively. Comparatively, Botswana and Kenya came in next.

Between 1957 and 2024, Egypt was the most successful national team, having won the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) seven times. Cameroon and Ghana followed achieving five and four titles, respectively. Moreover, nine other African countries managed to secure the title once. The 34th edition took place in Côte d'Ivoire with Côte d'Ivoire managing to secure their third title after winning Nigeria in the final.

Seychelles had the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in Africa as of 2024. The value amounted to 21,630 U.S. dollars. Mauritius followed with around 12,330 U.S. dollars, whereas Gabon registered 8,840 U.S. dollars. GDP per capita is calculated by dividing a country’s GDP by its population, meaning that some of the largest economies are not ranked within the leading ten. Impact of COVID-19 on North Africa’s GDP When looking at the GDP growth rate in Africa in 2024, Libya had the largest estimated growth in Northern Africa, a value of 7.8 percent compared to the previous year. Niger and Senegal were at the top of the list with rates of 10.4 percent and 8.3 percent, respectively. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact on the economy was severe. The growth of the North African real GDP was estimated at minus 1.1 percent in 2020. However, estimations for 2022 looked much brighter, as it was set that the region would see a GDP growth of six percent, compared to four percent in 2021.
Contribution of Tourism Various countries in Africa are dependent on tourism, contributing to the economy. In 2023, travel and tourism were estimated to contribute 182.6 billion U.S. dollars, a clear increase from 96.5 in 2020 following COVID-19. As of 2024, South Africa, Mauritius, and Egypt led tourism in the continent according to the Travel & Tourism Development Index.

Mauritius is classified as the most democratic country in Africa. As of 2023, Mauritius' democracy was given **** points, ranking as the only country in the whole continent as fully democratic. The index is based, according to the source, on the electoral process and pluralism, the government functions, political participation, and culture as well as civil liberties. Many Sub-Saharan and North African political systems are among the least democratic countries in the world. Burundi has the most authoritarian regime in Africa, with a score of **** points, while countries such as Botswana, Cabo Verde, South Africa, Namibia, and Lesotho fell within the "hybrid regimes", with a score ranging from **** points to **** points, meaning that they experience, for example, elections with irregularities, widespread corruption, and harassment of journalists. Democracy and freedom of speech in Sub-Saharan Africa One of the main key indicators of democracy is the ability of individuals to express their opinions freely. African countries varied strongly when it came to freedom of speech, for instance, countries Mauritius, Namibia, and Cabo Verde had high scores in both the democracy index and the civic space openness index in the last years. On the other hand, countries like Djibouti and Equatorial Guinea had relatively low scores in the same indices. Furthermore, in the last few years, several Sub-Saharan African countries faced a huge decline in the freedom index as well, with * out of the ** African countries with the largest decline in the freedom index being from this region. Africa divided: which region had more democracy? North African countries showed poor scores in the democracy index as well. Two-thirds of the countries in this region had a score below * points, indicating authoritarian rule. Even the countries with the highest scores in this region have relatively low scores compared to countries in the Sub-Saharan region.

The population in Africa is expected to grow by ** percent by 2050. Among the countries forecast to be the most populated in the continent, Nigeria leads, with an estimated population of over *** million people. Currently, the nation has already the largest number of inhabitants in Africa. The highest population growth is expected to be measured in Angola, by ***** percent between 2019 and 2050. The number of inhabitants in the country is forecast to jump from **** million to **** million in the mentioned period.

This statistic shows a ranking of the estimated number of LinkedIn users in 2020 in Africa, differentiated by country. The user numbers have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

This statistic shows a ranking of the estimated number of Youtube users in 2020 in Africa, differentiated by country. The user numbers have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

Thirteen countries on the African continent have managed to qualify and play in the various FIFA World Cups taking place throughout history. Cameroon was the most successful national team in Africa. The Indomitable Lions participated in ***** different tournaments in the most prestigious soccer competition globally. Morocco and Nigeria followed, featuring *** times each. Egypt took part ***** times and was the first country to ever qualify in 1934. Furthermore, Morocco achieved the best performance, reaching the semi-final in Qatar 2022.

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 statistic shows a ranking of the estimated number of Reddit users in 2020 in Africa, differentiated by country. The user numbers have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once. Reddit users encompass both users that are logged in and those that are not.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

This statistic shows a ranking of the estimated number of Pinterest users in 2020 in Africa, differentiated by country. The user numbers have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

This statistic shows a ranking of the estimated number of Twitter users in 2020 in Africa, differentiated by country. The user numbers have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

As of 2023, Egypt was considered the best country in Africa based on its performance in key attributes, namely adventure, agility, cultural influence, entrepreneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power, social purpose, and quality of life. The country ranked as the 34th best country in the world. In terms of heritage, which measures how a country is culturally accessible, has a rich history, great food, and many cultural and geographical attractions, Egypt was the ******* best country in the world. Furthermore, Morocco and South Africa were the second and third best African countries, placing 40th th and 46th in the global ranking.

The number of Reddit users in Africa was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 4.7 million users (+66.67 percent). After the eighth consecutive increasing year, the Reddit user base is estimated to reach 11.78 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the number of Reddit users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures, shown here with regards to the platform reddit, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once. Reddit users encompass both users that are logged in and those that are not.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the number of Reddit users in countries like North America and Asia.

As of 2022, cash was the main payment method used in online retail in Morocco, Kenya, and Egypt, accounting for ** percent, ** percent, and ** percent of the total, respectively. On the other hand, cash was not that prevalent in South Africa, where ** percent of e-commerce payments occurred by card, and ** percent by bank transfer. In Nigeria, most digital buyers used card-based payments (** percent) and bank transfers (** percent). Cash is still the most popular payment method The majority of the transactions in Africa occur in ****. Most countries on the continent rely significantly on ****, which is frequently used also in informal economies. Since credit cards are still not common in Africa, other payment methods are usually preferred. The same applies to online retail. When purchasing online, customers often use *************************. Despite country-specific differences, cash remains the leading payment method in Africa. Nevertheless, the use of mobile money has been growing significantly in recent years. In 2021, Sub-Saharan Africa was the leading region by number of mobile money accounts worldwide. This payment method represents a huge potential for digital payments in a continent where a limited share of the population owns a bank account. E-commerce growth in Africa E-commerce in Africa has been rapidly expanding in recent years. This growth was due to several factors, including demographic trends as well as the increasingly higher levels of internet penetration. On the continent, online retail generates the highest revenues in Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya. **************************************** are among the leading online marketplaces, all local websites. Founded in Nigeria in 2012, ***** was the most popular e-commerce platform by number of visitors. The number of online shoppers in Africa is forecast to increase in the coming years to exceed *** million by 2025.

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 Chad, South Sudan, Somalia, and the Central African Republic, the population increase peaks at over 3.4 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. African cities are also growing at large rates. Indeed, the continent has three megacities and is expected to add four more by 2050. Furthermore, Africa's fastest-growing cities are forecast to be Bujumbura, in Burundi, and Zinder, Nigeria, by 2035.

Egypt had the most appearances in Africa in the African Cup of Nations. Thirteen countries on the African continent have managed to qualify and play in the various FIFA World Cups taking place throughout history. Cameroon was the most successful national team in Africa. The Indomitable Lions participated in ***** different tournaments in the most prestigious soccer competition globally. Morocco and Nigeria followed, featuring *** times each. Egypt took part ***** times and was the first country to ever qualify in 1934. Furthermore, Morocco achieved the best performance, reaching the semi-final in Qatar 2022.

This statistic shows a ranking of the estimated number of Facebook users in 2020 in Africa, differentiated by country. The user numbers have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in more than 150 countries and regions worldwide. All input data are sourced from international institutions, national statistical offices, and trade associations. All data has been are processed to generate comparable datasets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

The number of Pinterest users in Africa was forecast to continuously increase between 2024 and 2028 by in total 15 million users (+68.81 percent). After the ninth consecutive increasing year, the Pinterest user base is estimated to reach 36.81 million users and therefore a new peak in 2028. Notably, the number of Pinterest users of was continuously increasing over the past years.User figures, shown here regarding the platform pinterest, have been estimated by taking into account company filings or press material, secondary research, app downloads and traffic data. They refer to the average monthly active users over the period and count multiple accounts by persons only once.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to 150 countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).Find more key insights for the number of Pinterest users in countries like Europe and Australia & Oceania.