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  • Countries by Global Innovation Index 2024

    The Global Innovation Index 2024 reveals a striking contrast in innovation performance between countries globally and across Africa. Switzerland leads the global rankings with an impressive score of 67.5, followed by Sweden (64.5) and the USA (62.4), highlighting their sustained investments in research, development, and technological advancement.

    In Africa, Mauritius takes the top spot with a score of 30.5, followed closely by Morocco (28.8) and South Africa (28.3). However, even Africa's most innovative nations achieve less than half the score of global leaders, indicating a significant innovation gap.

    Nigeria ranks 15th in the African ranking and 113th globally, out of 133 countries, with a score of 17.1.

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    As of 2022, the top five African countries indebted to the World Bank — Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania — accounted for 46% of the continent's outstanding debt with the institution.

    Forty-eight African countries collectively owed around $125 billion, representing 31% of the total global debt of $408 billion. These are the top ten countries from 1970 to 2022.

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  • The 2024 Global Peace Index reveals a decline in peacefulness in 97 countries, the highest since the index began.

    Nigeria is among the nations affected by regional conflicts and rising violence. With a peace index score of 2.91, Nigeria is facing increasing challenges.

    A deteriorating peace score impacts foreign investment and economic stability. Global economic losses due to violence reached $19.1 trillion in 2023.

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    The FAAC's revenue distribution from 2017 to August 2023 highlights the dominance of Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Bayelsa states in allocations. Despite Lagos' economic prominence, it ranked fifth. Here is the distribution of revenue among states between 2017 and August 2023.

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  • A Trend of Adult literacy rates of African countries

    Between 2018 and 2021, adult literacy rates across African nations exhibited significant disparities. Seychelles and South Africa led with literacy rates of 96% and 95%, respectively, indicating a high proportion of literate adults. Conversely, Chad had the lowest literacy rate during this period.

    These statistics underscore the uneven progress in educational attainment across Africa, highlighting the need for targeted interventions to improve literacy in lower-performing nations.

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    Nigeria was the seventh most populous nation in the world in 2020, with 206.1 million people. Projected to reach a population of 401.3 million by 2050, Nigeria will rank third after India (1st) and China (2nd). According to Institut national d'études démographiques' projections, Nigeria, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Egypt, Tanzania, and Kenya will be among the world’s top 20 most populous countries by 2050.

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  • The FAAC's revenue distribution from 2017 to August 2023 highlights the dominance of Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, and Bayelsa states in allocations. Despite Lagos' economic prominence, it ranked fifth. Here is the distribution of revenue among states between 2017 and August 2023.

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  • MTN Nigeria has dominated the country's telecommunications market over the years, accounting for the largest market share. All four operators, apart from 9mobile, recorded a significant increase in their subscriber base between May 2014 and March 2024.

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  • The 2024 Global Peace Index reveals a decline in peacefulness in 97 countries, the highest since the index began.

    Nigeria is among the nations affected by regional conflicts and rising violence. With a peace index score of 2.91, Nigeria is facing increasing challenges.

    A deteriorating peace score impacts foreign investment and economic stability. Global economic losses due to violence reached $19.1 trillion in 2023.

    See more
Other Insights
     
  • Ghana recorded the most striking recent growth, reaching 12,825 students in 2024/25.
  • Nigeria remained Africa’s leader with 21,847 students.
  • Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Egypt have held the top four positions since 2008/09.
  • Their combined share of African enrolment increased from 46.1% to 60.7%.
  • Africa had 73,406 students enrolled in US higher education in 2024/25.
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  • South Africa led with $8.52 billion, only $140 million ahead of Morocco.
  • Morocco’s imports have grown steadily, while South Africa’s 2025 figure was a recovery toward its 2012 peak.
  • Egypt ranked third, followed by Algeria and Nigeria.
  • The top 10 markets accounted for 67.1% of Africa’s $56.48 billion total.
  • Road vehicle imports include vehicles, parts, motorcycles, trailers, and semi-trailers.
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  • Africa exported a record $86.2bn worth of goods to China in 2025.
  • China received about 12.5% of Africa’s total merchandise exports.
  • Annual exports remained below $10bn until 2004, before accelerating sharply.
  • Export values have remained relatively high since 2021 despite earlier downturns.
  • The trade relationship remains heavily commodity-led, with limited manufactured exports.
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  • Only 3 of 52 African economies met the export-market diversification test in 2025.
  • Nigeria recorded the largest and most sustained shift, with its top-buyer share falling from 43.1% to 9.9%.
  • Madagascar’s top-market share dropped from 40.0% to 14.9% and has remained below 20% since 2021.
  • Libya narrowly qualified at 19.5%, after remaining above the threshold in 2024.
  • The test measures reduced dependence on one export destination, not greater product diversification.
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  • African teams have made 59 FIFA World Cup appearances since 1934.
  • Africa has advanced beyond the first stage 20 times.
  • Five African campaigns have reached the quarter-finals.
  • Morocco is the only African nation to reach the semi-finals.
  • Morocco is also the first African nation to reach two World Cup quarter-finals.
  • No African team has reached the final or won the World Cup.
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  • The UK made 672,400 visa decisions involving African applicants in 2025.
  • Visitor visas dominated the decisions, accounting for 521,400, or about 78% of the total.
  • Study visas had the highest issue rate, with 88.5% of decisions resulting in issued visas.
  • Visitor visas had a much lower issue rate at 66.5%, despite having the largest decision volume.
  • Work visa decisions had a 71.6% issue rate, below the global work visa average of 86.5%.
  • Other visa routes had the lowest issue rate, with only 53.4% of decisions resulting in issued visas.
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  • Kenya led Africa’s outward FDI in 2025, recording $1.26bn.
  • Nigeria followed closely with $1.19bn, after a 191% increase.
  • Together, Kenya and Nigeria accounted for $2.45bn of the top 10 total.
  • Morocco and Egypt completed the top four, with $812.8m and $695.9m.
  • Angola recorded the fastest growth among the top 10, rising 278%.
  • Africa’s total outflow was lower because negative outflows offset gains elsewhere.
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  • Nigeria’s FDI inflows rose to $4.01 billion in 2025, the highest level since 2014.
  • The 2025 figure represents a 148% increase from the revised $1.61 billion recorded in 2024.
  • Despite the rebound, Nigeria remains far below its 2011 peak of $8.91 billion.
  • Nigeria’s strongest FDI period was 2005 to 2014, when inflows stayed above $4 billion every year.
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Egypt remained Africa’s top FDI destination with $15.45bn.
Nigeria ranked 4th after FDI inflows rose 148% to $4.01bn.
Guinea had the biggest top-10 jump, rising 454% to $7.76bn.
Africa’s top 10 accounted for 73% of total FDI inflows.

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  • Nigeria’s external debt service entered a heavier phase in 2018.
  • External debt service crossed $5bn in 2025.
  • Nigeria paid about $22.2bn from 2018 to 2025.
  • That was about 6x the $3.7bn paid from 2008 to 2017.
  • The 2006 spike reflects one-off debt settlement payments.
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  • Malawi recorded Africa’s largest life expectancy gain, adding 21.4 years between 2000 and 2024.
  • Rwanda and Zambia also added about 20 years each.
  • Africa’s average life expectancy gain was 10.6 years, higher than the global gain of 5.8 years.
  • Nigeria added 7.5 years, rising to 54.6 years in 2024.
  • Despite improvement, Nigeria remained below both the African average of 65.7 years and the gains recorded by the top improvers.
  • Most of the biggest gains came from countries that started the period with very low life expectancy levels.
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  • Eswatini recorded Africa’s largest electricity access gain, rising by 66 percentage points from 2000 to 2023.
  • Kenya and Rwanda followed with gains of 61 pp and 58 pp, respectively.
  • East African countries accounted for 7 of Africa’s top 15 electricity access improvements.
  • Comoros, Ghana and Cape Verde reached very high access levels by 2023, at 90%, 90% and 99% respectively.
  • Nigeria’s electricity access improved by 18 percentage points, from 43% in 2000 to 61% in 2023.
  • Despite that improvement, Nigeria remained outside Africa’s top 15 gainers over the period.
  • Some countries were absent from the ranking because they had already reached high access levels by 2000.
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  • Nigeria leads Africa in five of six goat categories, but its largest share is just 18.2% of continental production.
  • Nigeria has 91 million goats, 17.0% of Africa’s total, nearly twice Ethiopia’s 54 million.
  • Nigeria produced 292,000 tonnes of goat meat, making it Africa’s largest producer but only the world’s 5th largest.
  • Chad produced 166,000 tonnes of goat meat, making it Nigeria’s closest African rival.
  • Goat milk is the exception: FAOSTAT records no Nigerian production, while Sudan accounts for 24.8% of Africa’s total.
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  • 1.5 million TB was consumed in May 2026, the highest monthly level on record.
  • 7 million TB was consumed in Jan–May 2026, up 42.1% from the same period in 2025.
  • Jan–May 2026 usage was 88.4% higher than in 2024 and 156.3% higher than in 2023.
  • May’s monthly usage was nearly 2.6× the level recorded three years earlier.
  • The surge points to rapidly growing demand for internet-based services, content and digital activity in Nigeria.
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  • 3G's share of Nigeria's mobile market fell from 16.5% to 5.1% between May 2023 and May 2026.
  • 4G became the dominant network, with its market share rising from 25.1% to 54.3% over the same period.
  • 2G's share declined from 58.4% to 36.1% but still accounted for more than one-third of all mobile connections.
  • 5G expanded nearly 37-fold, growing from less than 0.1% to 4.5% of mobile subscriptions.
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  • Nigeria's 36 states received a combined ₦4.14 trillion in FAAC allocations in Jan-May 2026, up ₦735.4 billion (21.6%) from a year earlier.
  • Thirty-five states received higher allocations than a year earlier, while Rivers was the only state to record a decline (₦7.15 billion).
  • Lagos recorded the largest increase in FAAC allocations (₦119.5 billion), more than three times the increase recorded by Oyo (₦38.3 billion).
  • Oyo, Kano, Borno, and Jigawa rounded out the top five states with the largest increases in FAAC allocations.
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  • OPay and Chipper Cash became Africa's fastest unicorns, reaching $1 billion in just 3 years.
  • Interswitch took 17 years to become a unicorn, the longest journey on the list.
  • Moove became Africa's 10th unicorn, reaching the milestone 6 years after it was founded.
  • Half of Africa's unicorns reached a $1 billion valuation within 6 years.
  • Eight of the 10 African unicorns primarily operate in the fintech sector.
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  • Nigeria's insurance industry generated ₦2.3 trillion in gross premium written in 2025.
  • Gross premium written increased 47.3% from ₦1.56 trillion in 2024.
  • Premiums have grown by 273% since 2021, from ₦616.6 billion.
  • Gross premium written has increased every year since 2021.
  • Premium growth does not necessarily mean higher insurance coverage or profitability.
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