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Mauritius, Morocco, and South Africa lead Africa’s innovation race in 2025
  • Mauritius leads Africa with the highest GII score (32.5), ranking 53rd globally out of 139 countries.
  • North Africa dominates the top 5, with Morocco and Tunisia both strong performers.
  • Sub-Saharan Africa’s bright spots include South Africa, Seychelles, Botswana, and Senegal.
  • Nigeria is 105th globally (21.1), highlighting Africa’s uneven innovation capacity.

South Africa leads Africa in travel and tourism competitiveness, ranking 55th worldwide
  • South Africa leads Africa on the 2024 Global Travel & Tourism Index, ranking 55th worldwide with a TTI score of 3.99.
  • Mauritius and Egypt follow closely, placing 57th and 61st globally, both scoring just below 4.0, showing strong competitiveness.
  • North Africa dominates the list, with Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia all making the top 10, highlighting the region’s strategic tourism appeal.
  • Rwanda and Namibia stand out despite being ranked lower globally (93rd and 95th), reflecting progress in tourism development in smaller economies.

Africa secured just 1.5% of the US Skilled Worker (H-1B) Visas in 2024 — Nigeria tops the list
  • Nigeria ranked first in Africa, with 880 H-1B visas issued in FY 2024, far ahead of Ghana (499) and Egypt (364).
  • East and Southern Africa featured prominently, with Kenya (320), South Africa (208), and Zimbabwe (132) among the top 10.
  • North African representation was modest, with Morocco (78) and Egypt (364) being the only countries in the region on the list.
  • Despite these numbers, Africa’s collective total is marginal globally, especially compared to India’s ~150,000 issuances and China’s large volumes.
  • President Donald Trump’s $100,000 fee for new U.S. H-1B skilled worker visas will have limited impact on Africa, which has historically received only a small fraction of these visas.

Equity dominated, as nearly three-quarters of Africa’s 2024 startup funding came through equity financing
  • Nearly three-quarters of all startup funding in Africa came from equity financing at 74.1%.
  • A significant 25.2% of funding was raised through debt, showing increasing reliance on loans and credit.
  • Only 0.7% of startup funding came from grants, reflecting limited non-dilutive capital support.
  • The high share of equity signals sustained investor belief in Africa’s startup ecosystem despite global headwinds.

African startups raised over $2B in 2024, led by financial services, with emerging sectors gaining traction
  • The financial services sector attracted the largest share of funding at $806.3m, accounting for more than 40% of total startup investment.
  • Renewable energy secured $377.1m, showing strong investor appetite for sustainable solutions in Africa.
  • Telecommunications raised $316.0m, while mobility & logistics brought in $222.8m, highlighting infrastructure-driven growth.
  • Electric vehicles ($87.9m), e-commerce ($50.3m), and crypto/blockchain ($35.3m) attracted meaningful investments, signalling diversification beyond traditional sectors.

South Africa led Africa’s bond market with $328.8 billion [in] volume and nearly 3,000 issuances
  • South Africa is the clear leader, recording a bond market volume of $328.8 billion and 2,952 issuances, far ahead of all other African economies.
  • Egypt and Morocco follow as strong contenders with bond volumes of $188.8 billion and $116.4 billion, respectively, though both trail South Africa by wide margins.
  • Côte d’Ivoire, Algeria, and Nigeria represent the mid-tier, each exceeding $65 billion, showing notable regional financial activity.
  • Smaller markets like Tunisia and Angola feature relatively lower volumes ($16.9 billion and $28.4 billion) but maintain significant issuance activity.

South Africa controlled nearly 70% of Africa's $63.6 billion insurance market as of 2023; Nigeria trailed with only 1.7%
  • South Africa led the continent with a massive 68.2% of Africa’s insurance market, far ahead of all others combined.
  • Morocco (8.7%), Egypt (4.0%), and Kenya (3.6%) were the next largest.
  • Major economies, such as Nigeria (1.7%) and Algeria (1.9%), played surprisingly small roles in insurance penetration.
  • “Others” refers to the rest of Africa, which held just 6.4%, indicating a heavy concentration in a few markets.

São Tomé & Príncipe’s dobra ranks as Africa’s weakest currency against the US dollar as of July 2025
  • São Tomé & Príncipe’s dobra is the weakest African currency, trading at over 22,000 per US dollar.
  • Sierra Leone and Guinea follow closely, highlighting persistent monetary pressures in West Africa.
  • Nigeria’s naira, despite recent reforms, ranks 9th weakest, reflecting ongoing exchange rate volatility.
  • East African currencies such as the Ugandan shilling, Tanzanian shilling, and Rwandan franc also appear, showing regional vulnerability.

Mauritius is the most peaceful African country among 47 countries ranked in 2025, with a score of 1.586
  • Mauritius leads Africa’s Peace Index with the lowest (best) score of 1.586, showing its stability and strong governance.
  • Southern Africa is well represented in the rankings with Mauritius, Botswana, Namibia, Madagascar, and Zambia in the top 10.
  • West Africa also performs strongly, represented by The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Senegal, and Liberia.
  • The scores are tightly clustered (1.586–1.939), showing that Africa’s most peaceful states are relatively close in performance despite regional differences.

Algeria leads Africa’s land mass rankings at 2.4 million km², more than 2× the size of Nigeria (924k km²)
  • Algeria is Africa’s largest country, covering 2.4 million km², slightly bigger than the Democratic Republic of Congo (2.3 million km²).
  • Sudan (1.9 million km²) and Libya (1.8 million km²) complete the top four, showing that North Africa dominates the list of largest territories.
  • Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, has a landmass of 923,800 km², placing it 14th in size, much smaller than its population ranking.
  • The smallest among the top 20 listed is South Sudan, with 619,700 km², less than one-third the size of Algeria.

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