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South Africa leads Africa in internet speed at 42.4 Mbps

South Africa sets the benchmark with the fastest average download speed (42.42 Mbps), more than double Morocco’s (19.61 Mbps).
Southern African countries dominate the top half of the ranking, with South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Lesotho, and Madagascar all featuring strongly.
Rwanda and Mauritius show East Africa’s progress, with average speeds above 30 Mbps, signalling solid digital infrastructure growth.
Wide disparities persist, with the gap between the highest (South Africa) and lowest (Morocco) averaging over 22 Mbps.

Despite producing 33% fewer carats than Russia, Botswana's $3.3B production value nearly matched Russia’s $3.6B in 2023

Russia is the volume leader with 37.3M carats, nearly 1.5× Botswana’s 25.1M carats.
Botswana punches above its weight: though producing 33% fewer carats than Russia, its output value almost matches Russia's due to higher value per carat price.
Eight of the top 10 producers are African (Botswana, Angola, DR Congo, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Lesotho).
Low-volume producers like Namibia (2.4M ct → $1.2B) highlight how smaller deposits can yield high-value diamonds.

Sierra Leone, Niger, and Ethiopia lead Africa’s shadow economies, with over 50% of each nation's GDP tied to informal activity

Estimates place Sierra Leone at the top, with about 64.5% of its GDP tied to the shadow economy.
Niger (56.3%) and Ethiopia (50.2%) are the only other nations where over half of economic activity is informal.
Even larger economies like Nigeria (30.0%) are estimated to have nearly a third of their GDP in unrecorded transactions.
Across the listed countries, estimates range from 28.1% to 64.5%, revealing deep but varied informality in African economies.

Seychelles leads Africa in passport index score with 156 destinations and ranks 24th globally

Seychelles holds Africa’s strongest passport, granting visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 156 destinations, and ranks 24th worldwide.
Mauritius follows closely, with a passport index score of 149 and a strong global rank of 27th.
South Africa leads mainland Africa, ranking 48th globally with access to 103 countries.
Southern African countries dominate Africa’s top 10, with Botswana, Namibia, and Lesotho all securing higher index scores than East and North African nations.
Africa’s passport strength varies widely, but island nations lead the way.

Gabon charges the highest air travel tax in Africa at $298, 229 times more than Libya’s $1.30 fee

Gabon imposes Africa’s highest international air travel tax at $297.70, followed closely by Sierra Leone at $294 and Nigeria at $180.
Libya charges the lowest air travel tax among the listed African countries at just $1.30, with other low-cost countries including Malawi ($5.00), Lesotho ($5.70), and Algeria ($9.80).
All of the 10 most expensive countries charge over $100 in departure taxes, suggesting a trend of high levies among a subset of African nations.
The gap between the highest and lowest air travel taxes in Africa exceeds $296, revealing significant disparities in passenger costs across the continent.

Primary school dropouts in Lesotho have more than doubled since 2017, reaching 96.4k in 2023

The total number of out-of-school children in primary education in Lesotho rose to 96,388 in 2023, an increase of 40,511 from 2015.
The number of children out of school in 2021 saw a sharp rise to 92,290, up from 69,906 in 2020.
The gender gap remained relatively stable, with more boys than girls out of school each year.
The overall trend shows a steady increase in the total number of children out of school, especially in the past five years.

Lesotho's external debt stock (DOD) saw a gradual increase from 2014 to 2020, with a slight decline in recent years

Lesotho's external debt stock grew from $912.1 million in 2014 to $1.74 billion in 2020.
The most significant increase in debt occurred between 2015 and 2016, when the debt surged from $952.6 million to $1.36 billion.
After 2020, external debt levels started to stabilise, with only a slight decline from $1.83 billion in 2021 to $1.78 billion in 2023.
Despite the recent stabilisation, Lesotho’s external debt remains relatively high, indicating a need for debt sustainability and fiscal management.

Libya recorded the highest revenue-to-GDP ratio among African countries in 2022 with 85.78%

Key takeaways:

Libya's total revenue (85.78% of GDP) significantly surpassed all other African states.
Lesotho is noteworthy with the second-highest total revenue ratio at 48.12%.
Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tomé & Príncipe in Western Africa recorded total revenue of 30.79% and 25.38% respectively.
South Africa generated 27.74% of its GDP in revenue.
The top ten countries reported total revenue exceeding 28%.

Top countries with the lowest and highest life expectancy in 2024

Key takeaways:

African countries have the lowest life expectancy.
Most of the countries with the highest life expectancy are in Europe and Asia
The countries with the highest life expectancy are mostly developed nations.
Thirteen countries were observed to have a life expectancy above 84 years, while 11 countries have a life expectancy below 61 years.

North Africa accounts for five of Africa's nine malaria-free countries

As of October 2024, only nine African countries are certified malaria-free: Egypt, Cape Verde, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritius, Libya, Morocco, Seychelles, and Lesotho. Egypt and Cape Verde are the newest members of this group. Over 40 African countries remain uncertified, with the continent recording 233 million malaria cases in 2022.

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