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.
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.
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.
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.
Between 2017 and 2020, Nigeria’s announced Foreign Direct Investment figures were highest in 2018. However, there have been significant differences between investment announcements and FDI inflow over the years. Here are the FDI announcements and FDI inflow from 2017 to 2020. A destination analysis shows that Bayelsa State leads investment destinations with 36% of the total investments.
The massive six-hour outage that took down Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp on October 4, 2021, is estimated to have cost Nigeria more than any other African country. Here are the top 20 most affected African countries.
According to Chainalysis, over $520 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from services and individuals through hacks and non-technical attacks like social engineering and phishing efforts in 2020.
