Burkina Faso's infrastructure development, as indicated by the AIDI, reached its highest recorded score of 22.11 in 2024, highlighting substantial infrastructure deficits
Key takeaways:
Burkina Faso's AIDI score increased by over 10 points between 2003 (11.36) and 2024 (22.11).
The country experienced notable improvements between 2010 and 2012, with scores rising from 12.72 to 14.25.
The period between 2018 and 2024 showed the most consistent yearly growth, climbing from 17.51 to 22.11.
Between 2007 and 2008, Burkina Faso saw one of its smallest improvements, with only a 0.38-point increase.
The country's AIDI score crossed the 15-point mark in 2013 and has not dropped below it since then.
Between 2019 and 2024 alone, Burkina Faso added nearly 5 points to its score, showing accelerated development efforts.
Despite positive growth, the 22.11 score in 2024 still reflects major infrastructure deficits when compared to an ideal score of 100.
Burkina Faso’s infrastructure development journey has been a slow climb over the past two decades. According to the African Infrastructure Development Index (AIDI), the country's score rose from 11.36 in 2003 to an all-time high of 22.11 in 2024. Despite this improvement, the relatively low score shows the significant infrastructure gaps that remain across critical sectors like transport, energy, water, and ICT. The upward trend shows progress, but it also highlights just how much more investment and development are needed to bring Burkina Faso closer to regional and global standards.
Since independence in 1960, Burkina Faso has had only 3,000 kilometres of paved roads. This illustrates how slow infrastructure development is in the country. Presently, the president, Ibrahim Traoré, is flipping the script with an ambitious plan to build 5,000 kilometres of new paved roads, surpassing more than six decades of work in a single move.
From 1970 through the early 2000s, Egypt’s debt interest payments hovered mostly under $1.5 billion, with fluctuations tied to global oil shocks and debt rescheduling.
Payments remained relatively moderate, ranging between $0.7–$1.0 billion annually.
Following Egypt’s 2016 IMF programme and rising external borrowing, payments jumped dramatically, climbing from $1.53 billion in 2016 to $6.13 billion in 2022.
Interest payments hit an all-time high of $9.47 billion in 2023, underscoring the heavy burden of Egypt’s rapid debt accumulation and exposure to global financing costs.
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.
Egypt and South Africa dominate Africa’s space presence, with 14 and 13 satellites respectively, accounting for nearly one-third of the continent’s total.
Nigeria (7), Algeria (6), and Morocco (5) form the next tier, highlighting North and West Africa as emerging hubs in satellite development.
The majority of other African countries with satellites, including Rwanda, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Djibouti and Angola, have two satellites each.
Out of 54 African nations, only 18 have any satellites in orbit, underscoring the vast disparity in space investment and technological capacity across the continent.
