While much of Africa ranks near the bottom in major economic and quality-of-life categories, there are signs that the continent’s outlook is improving.
Near the Bottom
There’s no doubt African countries are some of the poorest in the world.
GDP by country (most recent year available) in U.S. dollars
U.S. 15,940,000,000,000
China 12,610,000,000,000
India 4,761,000,000,000
Japan 4,704,000,000,000
Algeria 277,400,000,000
Angola 130,400,000,000
Benin 15,840,000,000
Botswana 32,060,000,000
Burkina Faso 24,690,000,000
Burundi 5,578,000,000
Cameroon 51,610,000,000
Cape Verde 2,214,000,000
Central African Republic 3,955,000,000
Chad 21,000,000,000
Comoros 887,400,000
Congo 19,410,000,000
Côte d’Ivoire 41,010,000,000
Democratic Republic of Congo 28,030,000,000
Djibouti 2,418,000,000
Egypt 548,800,000,000
Equatorial Guinea 19,600,000,000
Eritrea 4,468,000,000
Ethiopia 105,000,000,000
Gabon 25,910,000,000
Gambia 3,459,000,000
Ghana 83,740,000,000
Guinea 12,370,000,000
Guinea-Bissau 1,963,000,000
Kenya 77,140,000,000
Lesotho 4,131,000,000
Liberia 2,719,000,000
Libya 78,630,000,000
Madagascar 21,760,000,000
Malawi 14,500,000,000
Mali 18,280,000,000
Mauritania 7,824,000,000
Mauritius 20,530,000,000
Morocco 174,000,000,000
Mozambique 26,690,000,000
Namibia 17,030,000,000
Niger 13,340,000,000
Nigeria 455,500,000,000
Rwanda 15,740,000,000
Sao Tome and Principe 408,600,000
Senegal 27,010,000,000
Seychelles 2,355,000,000
Sierra Leone 8,412,000,000
Somalia 5,896,000,000
South Africa 592,000,000,000
South Sudan 10,620,000,000
Sudan 86,670,000,000
Swaziland 6,345,000,000
Tanzania 75,070,000,000
Togo 7,024,000,000
Tunisia 107,100,000,000
Uganda 51,270,000,000
Zambia 24,360,000,000
Zimbabwe 7,366,000,000
American Samoa 575,300,000
Tuvalu 37,610,000
But things are getting better – the continent’s total GDP has gone up by about 135% in the past decade. By comparison, the European Union’s collective GDP went up by about 37% during the same period.
Total African GDP by year
2004 851,858,000,000
2005 1,005,560,000,000
2006 1,140,594,000,000
2007 1,339,944,000,000
2008 1,562,460,000,000
2009 1,479,652,000,000
2010 1,738,634,000,000
2011 1,883,468,000,000
2012 2,006,779,000,000
Cause for Celebration
Educational expansion and increased infrastructure are two of the major reasons African countries have some of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Education
Average adult illiteracy rate
1990-2002 2005-2010
41% 32%
Enrollment in primary school (boys and girls)
1990 2000 2005 2010-12
75.3% 86.5% 98.0% 100%
Energy production
Total electrical production (in kilowatt hours)
2007 2008 2009
614,788,000,000 624,705,000,000 633,546,000,000
Hydroelectric production (in kilowatt hours)
2007 2008 2009
96,922,000,000 96,621,000,000 100,320,000,000
Thermal production (in kilowatt hours)
2007 2008 2009
504,345,000,000 512,557,000,000 517,429,000,000
Basic infrastructure
Country Paved routes (% of total) Telephone lines (per 100) Cell phone subscribers (per 100)
Algeria 74 8.5 99
Angola 10.4 1.5 48.4
Burkina Faso 15.3 0.8 45.3
Congo 6 0.2 93.8
Djibouti 16 2 21.3
Ethiopia 13.7 1 16.7
Niger 20.9 0.6 27
Uganda 23 1.3 48.4
Signs of Growth
Which areas of Africa are becoming center of development?
Six of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies of the past decade are in sub-Saharan Africa.
And a spate of major development projects are in the works.
Great Inga Dam
Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Work to begin: October 2015
Will produce 40,000 megawatts of energy. That’s twice as much as China’s Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest.
Total cost: $80 billion
Mobusa – Kampala – Kigali railway project
Location: Kenya/Uganda/Rwanda
Will be completed: March 2018
Stretching almost 3,000 kilometers and connecting three East African countries, the railway could be the continent’s answer to the Orient Express.
Total cost: $13.5 billion
Konza City
Location: Kenya
A technology and financial metropolis project located southeast of Nairobi, the project is the Kenyan government’s plan to improve the quality of life for its citizens. The government expects the city to provide 100,000 jobs and will include a business district, a university, residential areas and city parks.
Total cost: $9.2 billion
Ethio-Djibouti railway
Location: Ethiopia/Djibouti
The 650-kilometer railway is part of the Ethiopian government’s Growth and Transformation plan. It will connect the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa and the Port of Doraleh in the small Red Sea nation of Djibouti.
Total cost: $1.2 billion.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
Location: Ethiopia
To be completed: July 2017
The Renaissance Dam will sit on the Blue Nile river in the Benishangul-Gumuz region. Creating 12,000 jobs and generating 6,000 MW of energy, the dam will also serve neighboring Sudan and Egypt, which both rely on the Nile River’s water resources.
Total cost: $4.7 billion
Jasper Power Project
Location: South Africa
Project began: May 2013
The project will be a 96 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in South Africa’s Northern Cape — one of the biggest solar installations in the continent. The project will create 300 construction jobs and 50 permanent operational jobs.
Total Cost: Google has invested $12 million
Lagos Metro Blue Line
Location: Lagos
Completion date: Launch has been pushed back to 2015.
A major cosmopolitan transport project to connect Nigeria’s largest city, the Lagos Metro Blue Line is designed to ease congestion and speed up journey times for the city’s inhabitants.
Total cost: $1.2 billion
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