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

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 average for 2024 based on 52 countries was 6829 U.S. dollars. The highest value was in the Seychelles: 29242 U.S. dollars and the lowest value was in Burundi: 836 U.S. dollars. The indicator is available from 1990 to 2024. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The Seychelles' GDP per capita amounted to 22,000 U.S. dollars in 2025, the highest in East Africa. Mauritius ranked second, with a GDP per capita worth around 13,000 U.S. dollars. Burundi, on the other hand, had the lowest average income per person, at about 160 U.S. dollars.

The GDP per capita in Libya was estimated at around 7,200 U.S. dollars in 2022. Libya had the highest GDP per capita in North Africa in that year. Algeria followed, with a GDP per capita of approximately 4,300 U.S. dollars. In total, Egypt was the largest economy in the region.

Seychelles recorded the highest Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in Africa as of 2023, at 16,940 U.S. dollars. The African island was, therefore, the only high-income country on the continent, according to the source's classification. Mauritius, Gabon, Botswana, Libya, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Algeria, and Namibia were defined as upper-middle-income economies, those with a GNI per capita between 4,516 U.S. dollars and 14,005 U.S. dollars. On the opposite, 20 African countries recorded a GNI per capita below 1,145 U.S. dollars, being thus classified as low-income economies. Among them, Burundi presented the lowest income per capita, some 230 U.S. dollars. Poverty and population growth in Africa Despite a few countries being in the high income and upper-middle countries classification, Africa had a significant number of people living under extreme poverty. However, this number is expected to decline gradually in the upcoming years, with experts forecasting that this number will decrease to almost 400 million individuals by 2030 from nearly 430 million in 2023, despite the continent currently having the highest population growth rate globally. African economic growth and prosperity In recent years, Africa showed significant growth in various industries, such as natural gas production, clean energy generation, and services exports. Furthermore, it is forecast that the GDP growth rate would reach 4.5 percent by 2027, keeping the overall positive trend of economic growth in the continent.

In 2025, Luxembourg was the country with the highest gross domestic product per capita in the world. Of the 20 listed countries, 13 are in Europe and five are in Asia, alongside the U.S. and Australia. There are no African or Latin American countries among the top 20. Correlation with high living standards While GDP is a useful indicator for measuring the size or strength of an economy, GDP per capita is much more reflective of living standards. For example, when compared to life expectancy or indices such as the Human Development Index or the World Happiness Report, there is a strong overlap - 14 of the 20 countries on this list are also ranked among the 20 happiest countries in 2024, and all 20 have "very high" HDIs. Misleading metrics? GDP per capita figures, however, can be misleading, and to paint a fuller picture of a country's living standards then one must look at multiple metrics. GDP per capita figures can be skewed by inequalities in wealth distribution, and in countries such as those in the Middle East, a relatively large share of the population lives in poverty while a smaller number live affluent lifestyles.

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.

19 of the 20 countries with the lowest estimated GDP per capita in the world in 2024 are located in Sub-Saharan Africa. South Sudan is believed to have a GDP per capita of just 351.02 U.S. dollars - for reference, Luxembourg has the highest GDP per capita in the world, at almost 130,000 U.S. dollars, which is around 400 times larger than that of Burundi (U.S. GDP per capita is over 250 times higher than Burundi's). Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa Many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa have been among the most impoverished in the world for over a century, due to lacking nutritional and sanitation infrastructures, persistent conflict, and political instability. These issues are also being exacerbated by climate change, where African nations are some of the most vulnerable in the world, as well as the population boom that will place over the 21st century. Of course, the entire population of Sub-Saharan Africa does not live in poverty, and countries in the southern part of the continent, as well as oil-producing states around the Gulf of Guinea, do have some pockets of significant wealth (especially in urban areas). However, while GDP per capita may be higher in these countries, wealth distribution is often very skewed, and GDP per capita figures are not representative of average living standards across the population. Outside of Africa Yemen is the only country outside of Africa to feature on the list, due to decades of civil war and instability. Yemen lags very far behind some of its neighboring Arab states, some of whom rank among the richest in the world due to their much larger energy sectors. Additionally, the IMF does not make estimates for Afghanistan, which would also likely feature on this list.

The Gross Domestic Product per capita in Equatorial Guinea was last recorded at 5041.94 US dollars in 2024. The GDP per Capita in Equatorial Guinea is equivalent to 40 percent of the world's average. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Equatorial Guinea GDP per capita - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Mauritius concentrated the highest private wealth per capita in Africa in 2021: ****** U.S. dollars. South Africa followed, with a wealth amount of ****** U.S. dollars per capital. Overall, total private wealth on the continent amounted to *** trillion U.S. dollars that year.

As of 2023, the GDP of Africa was estimated at roughly 3.1 trillion U.S. dollars. This was the highest value since 2010 when the continent's GDP amounted to approximately 2.1 trillion U.S. dollars. The GDP value in Africa generally followed an upward trend in recent years and was estimated to exceed 4.2 trillion U.S. dollars by 2027.

Leading the charge: the three leading African economies

Among the African countries, in 2021, Nigeria had the highest GDP with approximately 442 billion U.S. dollars. South Africa and Egypt followed. These three countries have the largest economies for various reasons. The most notable factors are their population size, natural resources, and level of economic development. Furthermore, Africa was projected to have a real GDP growth rate of 3.9 percent in 2023. Libya was the economy experiencing the highest growth rate in that year.

The Sub-Saharan African economy on the rise

A global comparison showed that Sub-Saharan Africa had the smallest GDP among all world regions in 2021, amounting to 1.87 trillion U.S. dollars. A closer look revealed that Sub-Saharan Africa had a GDP per capita of 1,626.3 U.S. dollars in 2021, again the lowest worldwide. However, the region's economy was forecast to experience continued growth in the following years, with the real GDP increasing by 3.7 percent in 2023.

In 2021, the BRICS countries with the highest estimated GDP per capita were Russia and China, with between 12,000 and 13,000 U.S. dollars per person. Brazil and South Africa's GDP per capita are thought to be closer to the 7,000 mark, while India's GDP per capita is just over 2,000 U.S. dollars. This a significant contrast to figures for overall GDP, where China has the largest economy by a significant margin, while India's is the second largest. The reason for this disparity is due to population size. For example, both China's population and overall GDP are roughly 10 times larger than those of Russia, which results in them having a comparable GDP per capita. Additionally, India's population is 23 times larger than South Africa's, but it's GDP is just seven times larger; this results in South Africa having a higher GDP per capita than India, despite it being the smallest of the BRICS economies.

The particularities of agriculture, as a sector which ensures food supply, result from many factors, including the multilateral interaction between the environment and human activity. The extent of human intervention in the food production process is usually measured with the amount of capital expenditure. Therefore, the food production potential and the resulting food security depend on both natural and economic factors. This paper identifies the current status of food security in different countries around the world, considering both aspects (physical and economic availability) combined together. The variables published by FAO were used together with a variable estimated based on the author’s own methodology to identify 8 groups of countries characterized by economic development level, net trade in agricultural products, and selected variables related to agriculture and food situation. As shown by this study, the degree to which food security is ensured with domestic supply varies strongly across the globe. Domestic production provides a foundation for food security in wealthy countries, usually located in areas with favorable conditions for agriculture (including North America, Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan) and in countries which, though characterized by a relatively small area of arable land per capita, demonstrate high production intensity (mainly European countries). International trade largely contributes to food security in Middle East and North African countries as well as in selected South American countries which are net importers of food products. The most problematic food situation continues to affect Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia.

As of January 2023, Aliko Dangote was the richest man in Africa. He had a net worth of around 13.5 billion U.S. dollars and ranked 128th worldwide. From Nigeria, he is the founder and chairman of the Dangote Group, a large conglomerate operating in several sectors including cement and sugar. The South African Johann Rupert and family followed as the second-richest people in Africa, with a net worth of 10.7 billion U.S. dollars.

Dangote Group continues to expand

Founded in 1981, the Dangote Group (Dangote Industries Limited) is among the largest conglomerates in Africa. Its main subsidiary, Dangote Cement Plc, is the main cement manufacturer on the African continent. The business went public in 2010 and is the largest company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. In addition to the cement industry, the Group also manufactures and processes food products, such as sugar, flour, and salt. With Nigeria being the leading African country for oil production, Dangote expanded his business into the oil industry in recent years. For this purpose, the Group built Africa’s biggest oil refinery near Lagos, Nigeria.

Africa’s wealthiest countries

Wealth in Africa is concentrated in a few countries and, within those, in a few families. Counting the highest numbers of billionaires, South Africa, Egypt, and Nigeria are the wealthiest nations, having also the largest gross domestic products (GDPs) in Africa. These countries count the highest number of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs), which amounts to over 39,000 in South Africa. Not surprisingly, Johannesburg and Cape Town have the highest concentration of private wealth in Africa. Moreover, South Africa has the highest wealth per capita after Mauritius.

TThe ERS International Macroeconomic Data Set provides historical and projected data for 181 countries that account for more than 99 percent of the world economy. These data and projections are assembled explicitly to serve as underlying assumptions for the annual USDA agricultural supply and demand projections, which provide a 10-year outlook on U.S. and global agriculture. The macroeconomic projections describe the long-term, 10-year scenario that is used as a benchmark for analyzing the impacts of alternative scenarios and macroeconomic shocks.

Explore the International Macroeconomic Data Set 2015 for annual growth rates, consumer price indices, real GDP per capita, exchange rates, and more. Get detailed projections and forecasts for countries worldwide.

Annual growth rates, Consumer price indices (CPI), Real GDP per capita, Real exchange rates, Population, GDP deflator, Real gross domestic product (GDP), Real GDP shares, GDP, projections, Forecast, Real Estate, Per capita, Deflator, share, Exchange Rates, CPI

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe, WORLD Follow data.kapsarc.org for timely data to advance energy economics research. Notes:

Developed countries/1 Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Other Western Europe, European Union 27, North America

Developed countries less USA/2 Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Other Western Europe, European Union 27, Canada

Developing countries/3 Africa, Middle East, Other Oceania, Asia less Japan, Latin America;

Low-income developing countries/4 Haiti, Afghanistan, Nepal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe;

Emerging markets/5 Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, China, India, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore

BRIICs/5 Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China; Former Centrally Planned Economies

Former centrally planned economies/7 Cyprus, Malta, Recently acceded countries, Other Central Europe, Former Soviet Union

USMCA/8 Canada, Mexico, United States

Europe and Central Asia/9 Europe, Former Soviet Union

Middle East and North Africa/10 Middle East and North Africa

Other Southeast Asia outlook/11 Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam

Other South America outlook/12 Chile, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay

Indicator Source

Real gross domestic product (GDP) World Bank World Development Indicators, IHS Global Insight, Oxford Economics Forecasting, as well as estimated and projected values developed by the Economic Research Service all converted to a 2015 base year.

Real GDP per capita U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Macroeconomic Data Set, GDP table and Population table.

GDP deflator World Bank World Development Indicators, IHS Global Insight, Oxford Economics Forecasting, as well as estimated and projected values developed by the Economic Research Service, all converted to a 2015 base year.

Real GDP shares U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Macroeconomic Data Set, GDP table.

Real exchange rates U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Macroeconomic Data Set, CPI table, and Nominal XR and Trade Weights tables developed by the Economic Research Service.

Consumer price indices (CPI) International Financial Statistics International Monetary Fund, IHS Global Insight, Oxford Economics Forecasting, as well as estimated and projected values developed by the Economic Research Service, all converted to a 2015 base year.

Population Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, International Data Base.

Introduction

Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life. It is a key metric for assessing population health.

Life expectancy has burgeoned since the advent of industrialization in the early 1900s and the world average has now more than doubled to 70 years. Yet, we still see inequality in life expectancy across and within countries. The study by Acemoglu and Johnson demonstrated the relationship between increased life expectancy and improvement in economic growth (GDP per capita), controlling for country-fixed effects [3]. In the table below, we have shown how life expectancy varies between high-income and low-income countries. However, further analysis is necessary to determine how the allocation of a country’s wealth through certain investments in healthcare, education, environmental management, and some socioeconomic factors have an overall effect in determining average life expectancy.

https://www.googleapis.com/download/storage/v1/b/kaggle-user-content/o/inbox%2F2798169%2F628ce779038d936de99db54cf792ce8d%2Fle_reg.png?generation=1693904967765822&alt=media" alt="">

The Sub-Saharan African region experiences the lowest life expectancy at birth compared to other regions over the past 3 decades. SSA countries have consistently ranked as the lowest-earning countries in terms of GDP per capita. Therefore, there is a huge scope for improvement in life expectancy in SSA countries and hence our research focuses on the 40 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries with the lowest GDP per capita

Research Questions

After reviewing the rich existing literature on Life Expectancy, we realized the lack of concrete research on understanding the impact of all-encompassing determinants that cover socio-economic and environmental factors for SSA countries using Panel Data techniques. Hence, we tried to address this inadequacy through our research. In this paper, we aim to have a better understanding of factors affecting life expectancy in the SSA region for an efficient policy-making process and better allocation of funds and resources in addressing the prevalence of low life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa. To achieve that we attempt to answer the following questions in this research:

1. What’s the Impact of Expenditure on Health and Education (% of GDP) on Life Expectancy?
2. How does the prevalence of undernourishment and communicable disease Affect Life Expectancy?
3. Do factors like corruption and unemployment rate impact life expectancy? If yes, quantify
4. Increase in CO2 emissions decrease life expectancy? Is it significant?

Data

Main sources of data - World Bank Open Data & Our World in Data

1. Country - 174 countries - list

2. Country Code - 3-letter code

3. Region - region of the world country is located in

4. IncomeGroup - country's income class

5. Year - 2000-2019 (both included)

6. Life expectancy - data

7. Prevalence of Undernourishment (% of the population) - Prevalence of undernourishment is the percentage of the population whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normally active and healthy life

8. Carbon dioxide emissions (kiloton) - Carbon dioxide emissions are those stemming from the burning of fossil fuels and the manufacture of cement. They include carbon dioxide produced during the consumption of solid, liquid, and gas fuels and gas flaring

9. Health Expenditure (% of GDP) - Level of current health expenditure expressed as a percentage of GDP. Estimates of current health expenditures include healthcare goods and services consumed during each year. This indicator does not include capital health expenditures such as buildings, machinery, IT, and stocks of vaccines for emergencies or outbreaks

10. Education Expenditure (% of GDP) - General government expenditure on education (current, capital, and transfers) is expressed as a percentage of GDP. It includes expenditures funded by transfers from international sources to the government. General government usually refers to local, regional, and central governments.

11. Unemployment (% total labor force) - Unemployment refers to the % share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment

12. Corruption (CPIA rating) - Transparency, accountability, and corruption in the public sector assets the extent to which the executive can be held accountable for its use of funds and for the results of its actions by the electorate and by the legislature and judiciary, and the extent to which public employees within the executive are required to...

The statistic shows gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in the Maghreb countries from 2020 to 2023, with projections up until 2030. GDP is the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. It is considered to be a very important indicator of the economic strength of a country and a positive change is an indicator of economic growth. The Maghreb region in North Africa comprises Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. In 2022, GDP per capita in Algeria amounted to around 4,983.55 U.S. dollars.

Gabon recorded the highest per capita amount of meat available for human consumption among countries in Africa as of 2020. The average meat supply in the Central African country reached 67 kilograms per capita. The Seychelles and South Africa followed closely, with a supply of over 62 and 59.8 kilograms per person that year, respectively. On the other hand, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo recorded the lowest meat supply, 3.1 kilograms and around 3.2 kilograms per capita, respectively.