South Africa leads as Africa’s digitally delivered services exports hit $41.3 billion in 2024, less than 1 percent of the world total

Africa exported $41.3 billion in digital services in 2024, less than 1 percent of the world total.
South Africa was the continent’s top exporter with $7.05 billion.
Morocco ($6.74 billion) and Ghana ($5.18 billion) followed closely.
Egypt ($4.03 billion) and Mauritius ($3.53 billion) also ranked among the top five.
The top five countries together made up about two-thirds of Africa’s exports.

In 2024, Africa exported an estimated $41.27 billion in digitally delivered services compared to a global total of $4.78 trillion, leaving the continent with only 0.9 percent of the market.

South Africa and Morocco led the region, each above $6 billion, followed closely by Ghana at $5.2 billion. Egypt and Mauritius also featured strongly. Together, these five countries made up nearly two-thirds of Africa’s exports.

By contrast, Africa’s fourth largest economy, Nigeria, contributed just $1.55 billion, highlighting the uneven distribution of digital trade capacity across the continent.

Source:

World Trade Organization (WTO)

<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://intelpoint.co/insights/south-africa-leads-as-africas-digitally-delivered-services-exports-hit-41-3-billion-in-2024-less-than-1-percent-of-the-world-total/" title="South Africa leads as Africa’s digitally delivered services exports hit $41.3 billion in 2024, less than  1 percent of the world total"><img src="https://intelpoint.co/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Africas-digital-services-exports-scaled.webp" style="width: 80%; height: auto; max-width:960px;-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; margin: 0 auto; display: block;" alt="Chart: South Africa leads as Africa’s digitally delivered services exports hit $41.3 billion in 2024, less than  1 percent of the world total"/></a><br><span>Find more insights at <a href="https://intelpoint.co/insights?utm_source=Insight%20Embed&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=South+Africa+leads+as+Africa%E2%80%99s+digitally+delivered+services+exports+hit+%2441.3+billion+in+2024%2C+less+than++1+percent+of+the+world+total" target="_blank" style="color: #4f9acc; text-decoration: none;">Intelpoint</a>.</span></div>Copied to clipboard!

Period:

2023

HTML code to embed chart

Want a bespoke report?

Reach out

Related Insights

Morocco nearly matched South Africa in Africa’s vehicle import market in 2025

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.

Africa’s merchandise exports to China in 2025

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.

Africa’s export map changed, but only three economies escaped heavy reliance on one buyer

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.

South Africa, Egypt and Morocco accounted for nearly 40% ($313b) of Africa’s merchandise imports in 2025

Africa imported merchandise worth $788.9 billion in 2025, representing about 3% of global merchandise imports.
South Africa was Africa’s largest merchandise importer, with imports valued at $128.1 billion.
Egypt ranked second at $97.5 billion, followed by Morocco at $87.4 billion.
The three largest importers accounted for $313 billion, or 39.7% of Africa’s total merchandise imports.
South Africa alone accounted for about 16.2% of the continental total.
The five largest importers, including Algeria and Nigeria, were responsible for $404.6 billion, or 51.3% of Africa’s imports.
Nigeria ranked fifth, with merchandise imports valued at $41.5 billion.

Africa has never sold more than 20% of its goods exports within the continent in three decades

Only 16.9% of Africa’s merchandise exports were sold to other African countries in 2024.
Africa had the second-lowest intra-continental export share, ahead only of Oceania’s 4.8%.
Europe recorded the highest share at 65.6%, followed by Asia at 58.4% and the Americas at 54.0%.
Europe’s intra-continental export share was nearly four times Africa’s.
Africa’s share increased from 12.1% in 1995 to 16.9% in 2024, a rise of 4.8 percentage points.
Despite this long-term improvement, Africa remained below its 2015 peak of 18.8%.
Africa has not crossed the 20% mark at any point in the three decades covered.

South Africa accounted for nearly $1 in every $6 Africa earned from merchandise exports in 2025

Africa’s merchandise exports reached $689.2 billion in 2025.
Exports grew by 9.7%, the fastest rate outside Asia.
Africa accounted for just 2.6% of global merchandise exports.
South Africa led with $116.4 billion, followed by Nigeria and Egypt.
The top 15 economies generated 79.3% of Africa’s exports.