Nigeria held the top spot in global cashew production from 2001 to 2010. This highlights a period of strong agricultural output, though the country has since been overtaken by India and Côte d'Ivoire. In recent years, Côte d'Ivoire has emerged as the world’s leading cashew producer, holding the top spot for three consecutive years as of 2022. This shift highlights the country's growing role in global cashew production. India and Mozambique once dominated global production, with India leading for 35 of the past 62 years.
Nigeria remains the leading African country of origin for students in the US, with over 20,000 enrolled this year.
Ghana, however, recorded the continent's fastest growth rate at 45%. This increase of over 2,900 students brought Ghana’s total to nearly 9,400, making it the second-largest source of African students in the US.
Nigeria also saw a 13.5% rise, adding more than 2,380 students year-over-year.
Overall, the number of students from African countries in the US grew by nearly 12% in the 2023/24 academic year.
Until 1976, Ghana was the world’s largest cocoa producer, with an average annual output of 410,000 tonnes. However, Ghana lost this lead when production fell to 277,000 tonnes in 1997, allowing Côte d'Ivoire and Brazil to overtake.
Since 1977, Côte d'Ivoire has led global cocoa production, increasing its output by 634%.
Nigeria’s cocoa production peaked at 485,000 tonnes in 2006, consistently ranking among the top ten producers.
From 1961 to 2022, Nigeria, Egypt, and Madagascar led Africa in rice production, supporting local economies and food security.
Nigeria peaked in 2017 with over 10 million tonnes, while Egypt and Madagascar also recorded strong years.
Since 2014, Nigeria has held the title of Africa's largest rice producer.
Africa's sanitation crisis is alarming, with 17 of the top 20 countries having the highest open defecation rates.
Eritrea (67%), Niger (65%), and Chad (63%) lead, putting millions at risk of disease.
Even Nigeria, the most populous African country, has 18% of its population practising it.
Nigeria's total exports reached ₦38.6 trillion in H1 2024 — ₦19.2 trillion in Q1 and ₦19.4 trillion in Q2.
Spain led export destinations in Q2 with ₦2.01 trillion, followed by the US (₦1.86 trillion) and France (₦1.82 trillion).
According to 2022 and 2023 data for 40 African countries, Egypt leads in the value of manufacturing output reaching $59.6 billion in 2023 despite a 21% drop from 2022.
Nigeria follows with $55.7 billion, while South Africa comes third with $48.8 billion.
In 2022, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria, and Morocco collectively consumed an average of 2.712 million barrels of oil per day (Mb/d), 61% of the continent's daily oil consumption (4.478 Mb/d). African countries consumed 4.7% of the global usage (99.8 Mb/d).
Egypt used the most (850.5 thousand barrels per day (Kb/d)), followed by South Africa (601.2 Kb/d) and Nigeria (514.5 Kb/d).
Argentina, Egypt, and Ukraine were the IMF’s top three debtors as of June 26, 2024, accounting for $51 billion (46%) of the total debt. Egypt, Angola, and Kenya occupy the top three spots in Africa on the IMF’s debtors’ list.
As of December 2023, Kenya's public debt stood at Ksh11.14 trillion (approximately $76.8 billion). By June 2024, its debt to the IMF had increased by 245% from $744 million in August 2020.
This increase has coincided with protests in Kenya, where citizens opposed a proposed finance bill aiming to raise additional taxes to reduce the budget deficit and state borrowing.
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