Johannesburg was the wealthiest city in Africa as of 2021. South Africa's biggest city held 239 billion U.S. dollars in private wealth, while Cape Town followed with 131 billion U.S. dollars. The country led the ranking of wealthiest nations in Africa. The wealth value referred to assets such as cash, properties, and business interests held by individuals living in each country, less liabilities. Moreover, government funds were excluded.

This statistic shows the top 5 African cities in 2014 by number of residing billionaires. In 2014, 10 billionaires were living in Lagos, Nigeria.

The price per square meter in a luxury apartment in Cape Town, South Africa, reached 5,600 U.S. dollars in 2018. It was double of the price measured in Umhlanga, also a city in South Africa, and second in the ranking. The index tracked the square meter price in selected prime apartments, measuring from 200 to 400 square meters, mainly in exclusive living complexes.

Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, ranked as the most expensive city to live in Africa as of 2024, considering consumer goods prices. The Ethiopian capital obtained an index score of 46.7, followed by Harare, in Zimbabwe, with 37.4. Morocco and South Africa were the countries with the most representatives among the 15 cities with the highest cost of living in Africa.

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.

Lagos, in Nigeria, ranked as the most populated city in Africa as of 2024, with an estimated population of roughly nine million inhabitants living in the city proper. Kinshasa, in Congo, and Cairo, in Egypt, followed with some 7.8 million and 7.7 million dwellers. Among the 15 largest cities in the continent, another two, Kano, and Ibadan, were located in Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa. Population density trends in Africa As of 2022, Africa exhibited a population density of 48.3 individuals per square kilometer. At the beginning of 2000, the population density across the continent has experienced a consistent annual increment. Projections indicated that the average population residing within each square kilometer would rise to approximately 54 by the year 2027. Moreover, Mauritius stood out as the African nation with the most elevated population density, exceeding 640 individuals per square kilometre. Mauritius possesses one of the most compact territories on the continent, a factor that significantly influences its high population density. Urbanization dynamics in Africa The urbanization rate in Africa was anticipated to reach close to 44 percent in 2021. Urbanization across the continent has consistently risen since 2000, with urban areas accommodating 35 percent of the total population. This trajectory is projected to continue its ascent in the years ahead. Nevertheless, the distribution between rural and urban populations shows remarkable diversity throughout the continent. In 2021, Gabon and Libya stood out as Africa’s most urbanized nations, each surpassing 80 percent urbanization. In 2023, Africa's population was estimated to expand by 2.35 percent compared to the preceding year. Since 2000, the population growth rate across the continent has consistently exceeded 2.45 percent, reaching its pinnacle at 2.59 percent between 2012 and 2013. Although the growth rate has experienced a deceleration, Africa's population will persistently grow significantly in the forthcoming years.

In 2024, the capital city of Tunisia, Tunis, was the safest city in Africa. It had a score of roughly 52.2 points in the safety index, making it the African city with the lowest crime incidents. Cairo, in Egypt, and Algiers, in Algeria followed.

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.

Seychelles had the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in Africa as of 2024. The value amounted to 21.87 thousand U.S. dollars. Mauritius followed with around 13 thousand U.S. dollars, whereas Gabon registered 9.31 thousand 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.

As of June 2022, Nassef Sawiris, with a net worth of 7.3 billion U.S. dollars, is the richest man in Egypt, fourth richest in the African continent, and ranked 292 in the world. His sibling Naguib Sawiris ranked second, with a net worth of 3.4 billion U.S. dollars. Their father, Onsi Sawiris, who passed away in June 2021, founded Orascom Construction PLC, which he then passed on to his son Nassef. Four other Egyptian billionaires followed, with three of them belonging to the same family; Mansour. They have a combined net worth of 5.1 billion U.S. dollars. Furthermore, their family business, Mansour group, works in several industries, mainly the automotive industry. It is a General Motors dealer and owns several other franchises.

Orascom in the market since 1950

Born in a Coptic family in the South of Egypt (Upper Egypt), Onsi Sawiris started his construction career in 1950. Soon after, the president of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed power nationalizing the company 10 years later and preventing him from leaving the country for a few years. He was later allowed to leave for Libya returning in President Anwar Sadat’s time in office, establishing Orascom Onsi Sawiris & Co. In 1995, the company was transferred to his son Nassef. As of the fiscal year ending 2020, the total revenue of Orascom construction reached 3.37 billion U.S. dollars with an increment of 5.87 percent year-on-year.

Concentrated wealth in the continent

Among the 20 wealthiest individuals in the African continent, 14 were from Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa. The wealthiest individual in Africa was the Nigerian Aliko Dangote of the Dangote Group. He was followed by Nicky Oppenheimer and his family and Johann Rupert and his family who were from South Africa. Nassef Sawiris, from Egypt, ranked fourth. This followed the same ranking in terms of the countries with the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the continent. Furthermore, by reviewing the overall private wealth in Africa, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Cairo, and Lagos rank among the cities with the highest private wealth.

In the African region, the most valuable football team as of the 2023/2024 season was the Egyptian El Ahly, with a market value of 30.5 million euros. El Ahly was established in 1907, and since then it managed to be the most decorated club in Egypt and held the record as the team with the highest Confederation of African Football (CAF) champions league titles. The South African Mamelodi Sundowns FC followed closely with a value of 29.15 million euros. Another Egyptian and South African team followed, namely Pyramids FC and Orlando Pirates, with a market value of 21.73 million and 19.55 million euros, respectively. Furthermore, Zamalek SC ranked fifth with a market value of nearly 19.23 million euros.

Al-Ahly of Egypt dominate the CAF Champions League  

The 2022/2023 CAF Champions League kicked off on September 10 with the first preliminary round. The second preliminary round follows. There, ten teams exempted from the first round compete with the winners to reach the group stage. This is followed by two legs (Home and Away) of quarterfinals, semi-finals, and then a final. The final matches were on June 04, and June 11, 2023, between the defending champions Wydad Casablanca and Al-Ahly. The Egyptian team managed to deprive Wydad Casablanca of securing its fourth title and second consecutive title. Moreover, TP Mazembe and El Zamalek SC managed to win the CAF Champions League title five times each.

Large market value discrepancies from European leagues  

A large discrepancy can be easily recognized between African clubs and European clubs. In fact, the market value of the most valuable attacker and player in the Confederation of African Football , Victor Osimhen, stands at 120 million euros which is already higher than the market value of the most valuable club on the continent. Manchester City FC, the most valuable European football club had a market value of around 1.39 billion euros, while Arsenal followed with close to 1.32 billion euros as of June 2023.

As of 2023, the Republic of Chad was the most culturally diverse country in Africa and worldwide. The Central African country achieved a score of 0.85 in the cultural diversity index, followed by Cameroon and Nigeria which attained scores of 0.84 and 0.83, respectively. The two countries also ranked worldwide as the second and third most culturally diverse countries. According to the index, a score of one indicates the most diverse country, while a score of zero represents the least diverse country.

South Africa had the highest inequality in income distribution in 2023 with a Gini score of 63. Its South African neighbor Namibia followed in second. The Gini coefficient measures the deviation of the distribution of income (or consumption) among individuals or households within a country from a perfectly equal distribution. A value of 0 represents absolute equality, a value of 100 absolute inequality. All the 20 most unequal countries in the world were either located in Africa or Latin America & The Caribbean.