Africa's cybersecurity score grew from 21 in 2017 to 57 in 2024, a 171% increase

Africa’s cybersecurity score increased by 171% between 2017 and 2024.
The continent’s score rose from 21 in 2017 to 57 in 2024
Africa has reduced the gap with global averages, reducing the difference from 15 points in 2017 to 9 points in 2024.
The global cybersecurity score rose from 36 in 2017 to 66 in 2024.
Africa’s most notable leap was between 2021 (35) and 2024 (57), showing accelerated progress in recent years.

Africa has made significant progress in strengthening its cybersecurity landscape over the past eight years. From a low score of 21 in 2017, the continent’s Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) rose to 57 in 2024, marking a 171% increase. This rapid improvement reflects growing government commitment, regulatory frameworks, and investments in digital infrastructure to counter rising cyber threats. While Africa still lags behind the global average, the narrowing gap indicates that the continent is making progress.

Source:

International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://intelpoint.co/insights/africas-cybersecurity-score-grew-from-21-in-2017-to-57-in-2024-a-171-increase/" title="Africa&#039;s cybersecurity score grew from 21 in 2017 to 57 in 2024, a 171% increase"><img src="https://intelpoint.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/average-global-cybersecurity-index-gci-score-in-africa-and-the-world-2017-2024-68d06391c1214-scaled.webp" style="width: 80%; height: auto; max-width:960px;-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; margin: 0 auto; display: block;" alt="Chart: Africa's cybersecurity score grew from 21 in 2017 to 57 in 2024, a 171% increase"/></a><br><span>Find more insights at <a href="https://intelpoint.co/insights?utm_source=Insight%20Embed&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=Africa%27s+cybersecurity+score+grew+from+21+in+2017+to+57+in+2024%2C+a+171%25+increase" target="_blank" style="color: #4f9acc; text-decoration: none;">Intelpoint</a>.</span></div>Copied to clipboard!

Period:

2017-2024

HTML code to embed chart

Want a bespoke report?

Reach out

Tags

Related Insights

South Sudan tops the list of African countries with the most breached online accounts since 2004

Surfshark's data reveals that 17.2b online accounts have been compromised globally since 2004, with African countries accounting for 250.7m (1.45%). South Sudan has the highest number of breached online accounts in Africa, with over 89 million compromised accounts. South Africa and Egypt follow with 0.2% and 0.13% of the global figure, respectively. Nigeria ranks fourth with 19.3 million breaches. Although Africa's share of global breaches is relatively low, the potential harm is significant. Recently, unauthorised websites reportedly sold Nigerians' data, including NIN, BVN, and driver's licenses, for as little as ₦100. These breaches pose serious privacy, financial security, and national safety risks, calling our attention to the urgent need for robust data protection measures.