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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Africa Maize Market Report is Segmented by Geography (South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and More). The Report Includes Production Analysis (Volume), Consumption Analysis (Value and Volume), Export Analysis (Value and Volume), Import Analysis (Value and Volume), and Price Trend Analysis. The Market Forecasts are Provided in Terms of Value (USD) and Volume (Metric Tons).

Apnea of prematurity (AOP) is a common complication among preterm infants (<37 weeks gestation), globally. However, access to caffeine citrate (CC) that is a proven safe and effective treatment in high income countries is largely unavailable in low-and-middle income countries, where most preterm infants are born. Therefore, the overall aim of this study was to describe the demand, policies, and supply factors affecting the availability and clinical use of CC in LMICs. A mixed methods approach was used to collect data from diverse settings in LMICs including Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and India. Qualitative semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with different health care providers, policymakers, and stakeholders from industry. Additional data was collected using standard questionnaires. A thematic framework approach was used to analyze the qualitative data and descriptive statistics were used to summarize the quantitative data. The findings indicate that there is variation in in-country policies on the use of CC in the prevention and treatment of AOP and its availability across the LMICs. As a result, the knowledge and experience of using CC also varied with clinicians on Ethiopia having no experience of using it while those in India have greater knowledge and experience of using it. The in turn influenced the demand and our findings show that only 29% of eligible preterm infants are receiving CC in these countries. There is an urgent need to address the multilevel barriers to accessing CC for management of AOP in Africa. These include cost, lack of national policies and therefore lack of demand stemming from its clinical equivalency with aminophylline. Practical ways to reduce the cost of CC in LMICs could potentially increase its availability and use. Methods Study design, setting, population, sampling We conducted a landscape evaluation involving stakeholders in Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa) and South Asia (India – five states of Delhi; Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh) on CC availability and use from 1 July 2022 to 31 December 2022. We used a mixed methods study design to understand the complexity of CC availability and use across these LMICs. We selected a geographically and culturally diverse countries with high annual preterm births (~200,000). The selection of stakeholders within each focus country was by convenience and/or purposive sampling. We selected health facilities providing care for preterm infants and were able to provide the data required to achieve the study’s objectives. Proximity and ease of data collection was also factored into selection by research teams. Data collection Qualitative The research teams conducted key informant interviews and focus group discussions (FGD’s) with stakeholders in newborn health. The interviews with healthcare providers sought to explore their experience of using CC as a treatment for AOP. Interviews with WHO and Ministry of Health officials sought to understand current global and national health policies and CC’s inclusion in the essential drug list for using CC to treat AOP. Interviews with major drug suppliers and distributors of CC aimed to determine the current local market pricing of CC and its alternatives within and between countries. Also, to evaluate the factors determining the end-customer price of CC. The available average end-customer price per country was used to determine the daily cost of managing AOP for aminophylline and CC. We compared the average daily cost between aminophylline and cc for both public and private hospitals in each country. The dosing regimen for CC was a loading dose of 20 mg/kg/dose and a daily maintenance dose of between 5 to 10 mg/kg/day. The dosing regimen for aminophylline was a loading dose of 6 mg/kg administered intravenously (IV), followed by a maintenance dose of 2.5 mg/kg/dose/IV administered every 8 hours. Interviews and FGD’s were done in person or virtually over video or audio teleconferencing based on the preferences of the participants. All interviews were conducted in English. teams were situated in each country of focus and had previous training and experience conducting qualitative interviews and FGDs and in qualitative data analysis. The interviews and FGDs were semi structured using guide with a set of open-ended questions, in a set order and allowing for in-depth insights into the subject area. These guides were pilot tested across the 3 countries prior to data collection. Quantitative Additional interviews were conducted using standard questionnaires and had been piloted and refined in these settings prior to being used for data collection.The research team surveyed 107 providers: 20 from Ethiopia, 18 from India, 23 from Kenya, 28 from Nigeria, and 18 from South Africa. Providers were from 45 private or public health facilities across the five study countries. Of these, 12 (27%) were primary or secondary public, 7 (16%) were primary or secondary private, 25 (56%) were tertiary public, and 1 (2%) tertiary private Demand forecast for caffeine citrate. A demand forecast was conducted to determine the amount of CC needed per country. Using data from demographic health survey data from each country, we estimated the proportion of infants who would be eligible for CC treatment. Given AOP risk can be as high as 80% in preterm infants with birthweight ≤1500g (very low birth weight (VLBW)), we estimated that all VLBW infants met eligibility criteria for treatment with CC. We limited this forecast to public facilities where limited government funding constrains drug availability. We applied country-specific policies and assumptions to determine the percentage of VLBW infants who received or had a missed opportunity for CC treatment. These assumptions included, availability of CC, VLBW infants born in secondary facilities will be transferred to a tertiary center capable of providing AOP treat; some transfers will be unsuccessful and even when successful, AOP treatment will be unavailable. Data management and analysis All interviews were transcribed verbatim by an experienced transcriber. Authors reviewed the interview transcripts for errors. A coding framework was generated, and an emergent thematic analysis approach was used to analyze the data, to identify patterns and themes. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the quantitative data.

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.

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.

As of February 2025, Morocco had an internet penetration of over 92 percent, making it the country with the highest internet penetration in Africa. Libya ranked second, with 88.5 percent, followed by Seychelles with over 87 percent. On the other hand, The Central African Republic, Chad, and Burundi had the lowest prevalence of internet among their population. Varying but growing levels of internet adoption Although internet usage varies significantly across African countries, the overall number of internet users on the continent jumped to around 646 million from close to 181 million in 2014. Of those, almost a third lived in Nigeria and Egypt only, two of the three most populous countries on the continent. Furthermore, internet users are expected to surge, reaching over 1.1 billion users by 2029. Mobile devices dominate web traffic Most internet adoptions on the continent occurred recently. This is among the reasons mobile phones increasingly play a significant role in connecting African populations. As of early January 2024, around 74 percent of the web traffic in Africa was via mobile phones, over 14 percentage points higher than the world average. Furthermore, almost all African countries have a higher web usage on mobile devices compared to other devices, with rates as high as 92 percent in Sudan. This is partly due to mobile connections being cheaper and not requiring the infrastructure needed for traditional desktop PCs with fixed-line internet connections.

As of October 2025, Nigeria had 107 million internet users—the highest number reported all over Africa. Meanwhile, Egypt ranked second with over 96 million users. The majority of web traffic in leading digital markets in Africa originated from mobile devices. This is due in part to the fact that mobile connections are much cheaper and do not require the infrastructure that is needed for traditional desktop PCs with fixed-line internet connections. Anticipating notable growth: Africa's internet user rise and projected milestones The projected trend for Africa indicates a consistent rise in internet users from 2024 to 2029. It will have a collective addition of 337.3 million users (equivalent to a growth of 51.79 percent). Following fifteen successive years of growth, the user count is anticipated to reach a record high of 1.1 billion by 2029. Furthermore, the online penetration rate on the continent was 43 percent, which was below the global average, measured at around 68 percent. Unveiling internet trends The region has witnessed a steady increase in internet users over the years. In January 2024, Southern Africa stood out as the African region with the most sizable internet penetration rate, reaching approximately 73.1 percent. The proportion of individuals accessing the internet in this part of Africa and Northern Africa surpassed the global average (66.2 percent). Moreover, Morocco boasted an impressive internet penetration of about 91 percent, securing its position as Africa's foremost country. Libya held the second position with a penetration rate of approximately 88 percent, followed closely by Seychelles at around 86.7 percent.

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.

In 2025, South Africa had the highest health care index in Africa with a score of 63.8, followed by Kenya with 62 points. These scores, for both countries, are considered to be reasonably high. The health care index takes into account factors such as the overall quality of the health care system, health care professionals, equipment, staff, doctors, and cost.

In 2023, the best country for startups in Africa was ************, with a total score of ***** points, according to data provided by StartupBlink. *************************, and ***** followed in the ranking as the best places for startups on the African continent. In fact, some of the leading cities for startups in Africa are *************************************, and *******.