Chad and Nigeria had the lowest life expectancies in Africa as of 2023

The African countries with the highest life expectancies as of 2023 are: Algeria - 77 years, Tunisia - 77 years, Cape Verde - 77 years, Mauritius - 76 years.

The African countries with the lowest life expectancies: Central African Republic - 55 years, Lesotho - 55 years, Nigeria - 54 years, Chad - 54 years.

Source:

UNICEF

Period:

2023
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Nigeria has led global maternal mortality since 2021, with 993 deaths per 100,000 in 2023
  • Nigeria’s MMR dropped by just 13% in 23 years — from 1,136 to 993
  • The country never left the global top 10 between 2000 and 2023
  • Nigeria became number one by 2021 and still leads
  • Sierra Leone dropped by 78%, from 1,603 to 354
  • South Sudan dropped by 58%, despite conflict
  • Africa dominated the list, with nearly all top 10 countries coming from the region
  • Nigeria accounted for 29% of global maternal deaths in 2023

About 11M lives have been saved in Africa through tuberculosis treatment, which made up 23% of the total lives saved globally
  • Africa not only had high tuberculosis treatment success for people without HIV (5.9M lives saved), but also for 5.1M people with HIV.
  • With over 19 million people without HIV and 910,000 with HIV treated, South-East Asia leads in numbers.
  • TB treatment saved 10 million lives in the Western Pacific region.
  • Globally, 41 million out of 47.8 million lives saved were of people without HIV, showing that TB remains a major health threat even outside HIV-affected populations.
  • With just 1.2M lives saved each, both Europe and the Americas had relatively low numbers.

63.8% of Rwanda's parliament are women as of 2024 - highest in the world
  • Rwanda is a global leader in gender-inclusive governance, with nearly two-thirds (63.8%) of its parliament occupied by women.
  • Latin American nations dominate the list, with Cuba (55.7%), Nicaragua (55.0%), and Mexico (50.2%) showing strong female political participation.
  • The UAE stands out as the only Middle Eastern country in the top 10, achieving 50% female representation.
  • Despite being a high-income European nation, Monaco has the lowest representation among the top 10, with women holding only 45.8% of seats.

Seven states accounted for 96.6% of the suspected diphtheria cases reported in Nigeria between 2022 and 2025
  • With 24,062 cases, Kano accounts for the highest number of suspected diphtheria cases, making up a significant portion of the total outbreak in Nigeria.
  • Yobe recorded 5,330 cases, while Katsina had 3,939 cases, reinforcing the concentration of diphtheria in northern states.
  • Bauchi and Borno report similar case counts, with 3,066 and 3,035 cases, respectively.
  • Kaduna (777 cases) and Jigawa (364 cases) report fewer cases but remain part of the seven states contributing to 96.6% of the outbreak.
  • Other states combined report 1,405 cases, showing that diphtheria is largely a regional issue.
  • Northern states dominate the case count, signaling potential regional healthcare and vaccination disparities.

Women-led businesses in Africa receive only a fraction of available capital despite high entrepreneurship rates​​
  • Women-led businesses in Africa raise significantly less funding than male-led counterparts. In 2017, female-led startups secured only $1 for every $25 raised by male-led startups, and this disparity persisted through 2024.
  • Despite making up 26% of all entrepreneurs in Africa, women receive less than 10% of total investment capital.
  • Women in Africa face structural financing challenges, including limited collateral, fewer investment networks, and biases in lending decisions.
  • While some countries have introduced financial inclusion programmes, overall access to credit for women remains disproportionately low.
  • The rise of women-focused venture funds, such as WIC Capital and Janngo, signals a slow but emerging shift towards more equitable funding distribution.
  • If this trend continues, Africa risks stifling economic growth by not fully leveraging the entrepreneurial potential of women-led businesses.​​

Nigeria halved under-5 mortality from 325.2 to 107.2 per 1,000 live births from 1960 to 2022
  • Ghana's under-5 mortality rate at 42.3 deaths per 1,000 live births, still higher than the SDG target of 25 deaths per 1,000 live births.
  • Cape Verde achieved the most dramatic reduction in under-5 mortality rates, cutting its rate by over 93%, from 174.8 in 1960 to 12.3 in 2022, the lowest in West Africa.
  • Sierra Leone had the highest under-5 mortality rate in 1960, at 390.1 deaths per 1,000 live births, marking it as one of the most challenging places for child survival in the region at the time.
  • Liberia experienced a troubling increase in under-5 mortality rates during the 1980s, peaking at 263.8 in 1990, a period marked by civil war and economic instability.

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