Africa is home to several of the world’s poorest countries. Several African countries’ economies are in ruins, and poverty is widespread.
A lack of vaccines is hampering the continent’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, several African nations, such as Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, and Somalia, are now at war, either with terrorist insurgents or with one another, putting further burden on their economy.
Despite these obstacles, Africa’s 54 countries have among of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Agriculture, commerce, and natural resources are predicted to drive the African economy to a GDP of $29 trillion by 2050.
Using the gross domestic product (GDP) to assess African nations’ prosperity
While there are several ways to compare the wealth of different countries, one of the most effective is to assess each country’s gross domestic output or GDP. The GDP is the total worth of a country’s products and services generated in a particular year.
GDP is frequently adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which adjusts each country’s GDP relative to local prices, and is represented in a fake currency called international dollars to make country-to-country comparisons more exact (INT).
The Top 10 Richest African Countries in Terms of Gross Domestic Product
Egypt – $1.38 trillion
Nigeria – $1.14 trillion
South Africa – $861.93 billion
Algeria – $532.57 billion
Morocco – $302.77 billion
Ethiopia – $298.57 billion
Kenya – $269.29 billion
Angola – $217.97 billion
Ghana – $193.63 billion
Sudan – $189.87 billion
In terms of total GDP (PPP INT$), Egypt topped as the richest country in Africa in 2021.
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, is filled with lower-middle-income citizens. The country practices a mixed economy focused upon petroleum and (to a lesser extent) agriculture. Nigeria is also an emerging market with growing financial, service, communications, and technology sectors.
list of the Richest African Countries by GDP per Capita
Seychelles – $30,898
Mauritius – $23,841
Equatorial Guinea – $18,625
Botswana – $18,507
Libya – $15,816
Gabon – $15,582
South Africa – $13,010
Egypt – $12,261
Algeria – $11,997
Tunisia – $11,096
Gross national income (GNI) of African economies
A final metric often used by economists to compare the wealth of different countries is the gross national income or GNI.
While GDP measures the value of a country’s commodities and services, GNP measures the total revenue generated by those goods and services. GNP also measures a country’s economy’s inward and outbound money as part of international commercial activity. This helps GNP prevent falsely inflated totals that can mislead the GDPs of nations that are renowned international tax havens.
Here are the 10 richest countries in Africa:
Nigeria ($514.05 Bn)
Egypt ($394.28 Bn)
South Africa ($329.53 Bn)
Algeria ($151.46 Bn)
Morocco ($124.00 Bn)
Kenya ($106.04 Bn)
Ethiopia ($93.97 Bn)
Ghana ($74.26 Bn)
Ivory Coast ($70.99 Bn)
Angola ($66.49 Bn)