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  • In 2023, 7,383 people from Nigeria were issued US immigrant visas, 33% higher than 5,547 in 2022. Visas issued to skilled workers, professionals, and unskilled workers declined by 66%. Here are the US immigrant visas issued to Nigerians in 2023 by visa class.

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    Cocoa beans are a vital commodity for many countries, driving their economies and supporting livelihoods. Over the years, cocoa production has seen significant fluctuations across different countries.

    The world's cocoa-producing countries produced 104.2 million tonnes of cocoa beans between 2000 and 2022, enough to fill about 2.084 billion 50kg bags. Côte d'Ivoire maintains its dominance, accounting for 35.3% of global production in the 23 years under review, with Ghana (16.5%), Indonesia (15.4%), and Nigeria (7.7%) completing the top four.

    These are the top ten countries in the period.

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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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  • Inflation rate in Nigeria increased to 31.7% in February 2024. Nigeria has the 13th highest inflation rate out of 186 countries and territories as of February 2024.

    The data showcases Argentina leading with 276%, followed by Lebanon and Syria. Seven of the top fifteen are African.

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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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  • Top African countries by number of citizens studying in the US in 2020
    • Nigeria remained the top African country for students in the U.S., with 20,029 students enrolled in the 2023/2024 academic year, marking a 13.5% increase from the previous year.
    • Ghana saw the highest growth rate among African nations, with a 45% increase in students, totaling 9,394 in the U.S. during the 2023/2024 academic year.
    • These countries collectively contributed significantly, with 4,507 (Kenya), 3,078 (Ethiopia), and 2,814 (South Africa) students studying in the U.S. during 2023/2024.
    • Sub-Saharan Africa was the fastest-growing region for international student mobility to the U.S., experiencing a 13% overall increase in the 2023/2024 academic year.
    • In the 2020/2021 academic year, Nigeria had 12,900 students, Ghana had 4,200, and Kenya had 3,500 students enrolled in U.S. institutions.
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  • Only 10% of Nigerians earn above ₦100,000, according to the Nigerian Financial Services Market Report. This aligns with most reports about Nigeria, and it's in sharp contrast to the narratives online.
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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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Other Insights

Key Takeaways:

  • In June 2022, 9mobile recorded a peak of 324 port-ins.
  • The lowest port-in figure during the period was recorded in February 2025, with only one subscriber.
  • In June 2021, 9mobile received 191 new ported-in users, which decreased to 3 by April 2025.
  • Monthly port-in numbers have been progressively dropping, from a three-digit to a single-digit level by 2025.
  • A slight recovery was observed in May 2024 (226), but it was not sustained.
  • By early 2025, port-ins dropped to as low as 1-3 per month.
  • This trend is consistent with a sharp decline in its subscriber base.
  • Compared to other service providers, 9mobile has struggled to attract and maintain switching clients.
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Key Takeaways:

  • Africa’s total cashew nut (in shell) production increased from 172,050 tonnes in 1961 to over 2.25 million tonnes in 2023, a growth of approximately 1,209%.
  • Western Africa has been the primary driver of this growth since the 1990s and now produces the largest share of cashew nuts in Africa.
  • Western Africa accounted for 84% of Africa’s total cashew nut production by 2023.
  • Middle Africa has maintained a minimal but consistent level of production.
  • Eastern Africa led production from the 1960s through the 1980s before being overtaken by Western Africa.
  • The most significant growth in Africa’s cashew production began in the 1990s.
  • Despite overall growth, cashew production in Africa has experienced periodic fluctuations.
  • Mostly due to their climate conditions, Southern and Northern Africa regions are less favourable for cashew production than other African regions.
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Key takeaways:

  • MTN maintained the highest market share, growing from 41% in December 2015 to 52% by April 2025.
  • Airtel grew significantly, expanding from 22% in December 2015 to 34% by Apr 2025.
  • 9mobile experienced a steep decline, falling from 15% to 2% over the same period.
  • Globacom maintained stability until 2023, then saw a dramatic fall from 27% to 12% by December 2024.
  • The total market grew from 148.7 million in 2015 to 172.7 million subscribers in 2025 (16% growth).
  • 9mobile's market share declined from 22.2 million subscribers (15%) to just 3.0 million (2%) in 2025.
  • Globacom lost 41.5 million subscribers between 2023 and 2024.
  • Airtel's market share expanded from 22% to 34%.
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Jumia's milestones (2012 to May 2025)
  • Jumia hit unicorn status between 2015 and 2016 after a €300M raise led by key global investors.
  • Its 2019 IPO raised $196M, making it the first African tech company to list on the NYSE.
  • Post-IPO backlash led to a 50% drop in stock price after Citron’s fraud allegations.
  • Between 2020 and 2021, Jumia exited multiple African markets and saw major investors like MTN and Rocket Internet cash out.
  • Jumia exited South Africa and Tunisia in 2024, signalling sharper market focus.
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Global active Facebook users by region as of January 2025
  • Southern Asia alone hosts 520 million active Facebook users, making up 22.8% of global users.
  • South-Eastern Asia follows with 398 million users, equivalent to 17.4% of Facebook's global audience.
  • Nigeria has 38.7 million Facebook users, placing it among the highest in Africa but contributing only 1.3% globally.
  • Southern America and Northern America have 257 million and 221 million users respectively.
  • Western and Northern Africa combined have nearly 185 million users.
  • Central Asia and the Caribbean have the fewest Facebook users globally, with just 6.4 million and 13.8 million users, respectively.
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Share of selected social media users by regions in Africa (Jan. 2025)
  • Northern Africa makes up 65.6% of all Messenger users in Africa.
  • On Instagram, more than half (55.8%) of African users are from Northern Africa.
  • TikTok has its largest African user share in Northern Africa at 48.0%.
  • Western Africa leads the African presence on X (formerly Twitter) with 35.4% of total users.
  • LinkedIn usage is more evenly distributed
  • Facebook users are most concentrated in Northern Africa (37.8%), followed by Western Africa (25.7%).
  • Central Africa contributes the least to every platform, consistently under 8% in all cases.
  • Eastern Africa contributes 20% on X, showing stronger engagement on text-based platforms over visual-heavy ones like Instagram.
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Key takeaways:

  • In September 2015, 9mobile had a peak subscriber base of 23.49 million.
  • After reaching that peak, its subscriber base fell steadily in late 2015.
  • The most drastic reduction happened between February and April 2024, with nearly 5 million customers lost in just three months.
  • 9mobile has lost more than 20 million customers since its peak in September 2015.
  • More than 10 million subscribers were lost between January and April 2025 (>78%).
  • 9mobile customers increased significantly until 2015, then steadily declined, with a steep reduction after 2023.
  • The subscriber base was mostly steady from January 2020 to February 2024.
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Key Takeaways:

  • September 2024 saw the most outbound departures (7,127), followed by January 2025 (6,716 losses).
  • From June 2021 to April 2025, the network saw a steady and increasing loss of consumers to other suppliers.
  • The outflow has accelerated considerably since mid-2023, showing growing subscriber dissatisfaction or more appealing options.
  • The largest monthly outflows occurred between July 2024 and April 2025, when more than 5,000 subscribers left on a consistent monthly basis.
  • Early 2021 numbers were extremely low, with only 323 ports in June and July 2021.
  • The number of subscribers transferring out decreased dramatically between September 2024 and December 2024, before peaking again in January 2025.
  • Monthly port-outs rose from 323 in June 2021 to 7,127 in September 2024, an approximately 2,107% increase.
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Key Takeaways:

  • 9mobile consistently tops the port-out chart, averaging over 75% of all outgoing ports over 24 months.
  • The highest subscriber loss from 9mobile occurred in September 2024, with 90.38% of all ports.
  • Airtel and Globacom show relatively stable port-out shares, rarely crossing 15%, with occasional surges. MTN has the lowest overall port-out rates, peaking at 13.64% in January 2025.
  • Total port-outs to other service providers surged by 127%, from 2,992 in May 2023 to 6,789 in April 2025.
  • The highest port transfer to another provider occurred in September 2024, with 7,886 total departures, and 9mobile recording 7,127 losses (90.38%).
  • Globacom’s outflow increased sharply from the July 2023 low, reaching 18.16% in April 2025.
  • Airtel maintained relatively low but fluctuating port-out rates, hitting its highest at 14.61% in October 2023.
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Global active Instagram users by region as of January 2025
  • Southern Asia dominates Instagram usage globally with 448M users.
  • Southern America (237M) and Northern America (192M) significantly trail behind Southern Asia.
  • Nigeria leads West Africa with 9.9M users, ahead of countries in the Caribbean and Middle Africa.
  • Africa’s Instagram audience remains relatively small, but its most active countries and regions, like Nigeria and Northern Africa, are worth watching.
  • Middle Africa (2.8M users) is the smallest regional contributor.
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  • Zimbabwe has the highest benchmark interest rate in Africa at 35%, exceeding Ghana, the second highest, by 7% points.
  • Nigeria holds the third highest interest rate on the continent at 27.5%, just 0.5% points behind Ghana, signalling aggressive policy intervention.
  • Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, and Egypt have interest rates above 25%, showing a regional pattern of tight monetary conditions.
  • There is a significant drop of over 5% points between Sierra Leone at 24.75% and Angola at 19.5%, marking a clear shift to lower-rate economies below the top tier.
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  • The USA leads the suppliers with 1.40 million barrels/day, making it the largest single contributor to the EU’s crude oil imports in 2024.
  • Norway and Kazakhstan follow closely, delivering 1.10M and 1.05M b/d respectively, together accounting for over 24% of the EU’s total imports.
  • Nigeria ranks 7th, contributing 0.54M b/d, which is 5.9% of total EU crude oil imports, ahead of Brazil and the UK.
  • The top 6 suppliers (USA to Iraq) delivered 5.45 million b/d in total, representing nearly 60% of the EU’s crude oil demand.
  • The rest of the world, not listed among the top 10, contributed 2.24M b/d, underscoring the EU’s diversified sourcing strategy.
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  • US imports from Africa jumped 24% to $23.4 billion in H1 2025 despite tariffs.
  • Egypt led gains, doubling its surplus with the US to $2.73 billion.
  • Nigeria swung into a $576 million surplus, reversing last year’s deficit.
  • South Africa’s deficit with the US nearly doubled to $6.32 billion, dragging the overall balance.
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  • Africa’s population grew by 580.4%, from 228M in 1950 to 1.6B in 2025, making it the fastest-growing continent.
  • Asia remains the most populated continent, reaching 4.8B people in 2025, up from 1.4B in 1950.
  • Europe’s growth has been the slowest, at just 35.6%, rising from 549M to 744M.
  • Latin America & the Caribbean grew by 298%, from 168M to 668M.
  • North America more than doubled its population, growing by 130.7% from 168M to 388M.
  • Oceania saw a 270% increase, though it remains the least populated continent at 47M people.
  • Africa’s population is now more than double Europe’s, a major demographic shift compared to 1950.
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  • Morocco’s GDP per capita has shown a fluctuating pattern in the last 25 years, with periods of steady growth and also fall.
  • The years 2003–2008 stand out as a high-growth phase, with GDP per capita rising rapidly from $1,941.9 to $3,183.2.
  • In 2021, a dramatic 15.9% rebound took GDP per capita up to $3,785.9.
  • In 2024, nominal GDP per capita stood at $3,993.4.
  • The last 25 years depict a more than twofold increase in Morocco’s GDP per capita, moving from $1,499.1 to $3,993.4.
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  • Egypt remained the lead African country with the highest number of international scholars in the US, with 942 recorded in the 2023/2024 academic session.
  • As of the 2023/2024 academic session, 4,679 international scholars in the United States of America are from Africa.
  • A total of 931 international scholars in the US as of the same session are from Nigeria.
  • Africa produced 4.2% of the international scholars in the US for the session under review.
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  • Nigeria has been the second leading source of African scholars in the US since 2008/09 to 2023/24, after overtaking South Africa.
  • By the 2023/24 academic session, the number of Nigerian scholars in the US reached 931.
  • Given past trends, it’s not unrealistic to predict that Nigeria could surpass Egypt in the near future, just as it did South Africa.
  • Approximately 20% of the African scholars in the US are Nigerians.
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  • Only 37 countries produced bio-diesel in 2023.
  • No African country produced bio-diesel.
  • The US remained the dominant producer of bio-diesel with 15.25 million metric tons produced in 2023, which is 36% of the total quantity produced globally.
  • Germany was the top exporter of bio diesel with 2.18 million metric tons.
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