The United States remains the undisputed leader with 589 active rigs, accounting for nearly a third of all rigs worldwide in 2024.
Canada (162 rigs) and Iran (117 rigs) follow as the second and third highest contributors to global drilling activity.
Middle Eastern producers dominate the top 10, with Kuwait (80), UAE (73), Saudi Arabia (70), Iraq (62), and Oman (50) collectively operating 335 rigs.
Nigeria ranks 15th globally with 31 active rigs, making it one of only two African nations in the global top 20.
The top 10 countries account for over 75% of the world’s active rigs, reflecting the continued concentration of drilling infrastructure in a handful of key oil-producing regions.
The world’s total proven recoverable crude oil reserves stand at 1.57 trillion barrels in 2024.
Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Iran collectively hold over 50% of these reserves, with 303.2B, 267.2B, and 208.6B barrels respectively.
Nigeria ranks 10th globally with 37.3 billion barrels, placing it ahead of other major producers like Kazakhstan, China, and Brazil.
The majority of the largest reserves are concentrated in Middle Eastern and South American countries, with only a few top holders located in North America, Africa, and Asia.
The United States holds the largest IMF quota by far, with 82,994.2 billion SDRs, accounting for 17.42%, more than double the quota of any other country.
Japan, China, and Germany follow as the next largest contributors, each holding between 5.5% and 6.5% of total quota shares.
European countries (Germany, France, the U.K., Italy) collectively maintain a strong presence, together accounting for nearly 17.21%, almost equal to the U.S. alone.
Emerging economies like India and Russia have relatively modest shares (2.75% and 2.71%, respectively) despite their growing roles in global economic affairs, indicating an imbalance between global influence and IMF voting power.
As of 2023, the global labour force has expanded to an estimated 3.63 billion, driven by population booms in key regions.
China and India lead with a combined 1.37 billion people 15+ active in the workforce.
Nigeria ranks 7th with 76 million, following the US, Indonesia, Brazil, and Pakistan.
Since 2005, nationals from China, India, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Pakistan, and Nigeria have ranked among the top three recipients of UK study visas. China led the list from 2010 to 2020. In 19 years, over 1.46 million Chinese nationals (22.9% of the total) received study visas. India followed with 926.9k and Nigeria — which first entered the top three in 2020 — with 436.9k.
Nigerian academic IELTS test takers scored an average of 6.7 out of 9 in 2022, placing the country joint 5th globally with Ghana, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. Spanish academic IELTS test takers topped the list with an overall score of 7.1.
