Africa : 50 interesting things

These interesting facts are from the World Bank. A lot of them are, as you would expect from that source, economic, but there is a fair sprinkling of social issues. (NB SSA = sub-Saharan Africa)

[Photo credit: duncan]

1. In 2000–2006 the average GDP per capita growth in SSA was 2.0%, up from –0.7% in 1990–1999.
2. Since the mid 1990s oil-exporting countries have grown more than three times faster than non-oilexporting countries.
3. The probability of an African country experiencing growth acceleration increased to 46% in the last decade, up from 21% in the previous decade; the probability of growth deceleration decreased to 12%, down from 36%.
4. There is increasing divergence of the income per capita among countries and as a consequence the distribution of income is becoming less equal: the ratio of income of the richest 10% of countries to the poorest 10% of countries rose from 10.5 in 1975 to 18.5 in 2005.
5. The GDP of SSA was US$744 billion, which was equivalent of 28% of China’s GDP, 69% of Brazil’s, 74% of Russia’s, and 80% of India’s.
6. The economies of South Africa and Nigeria comprised 56% of SSA’s GDP.
7. Equatorial Guinea has the highest GDP per capita ($7,470); the Democratic Republic of Congo has the lowest ($91).
8. South Africa has the largest GDP ($242 billion); São Tomé and Principe has the smallest ($123 million).
9. The average index of export diversification in SSA is 2.2 (the index measures the extent to which  exports are diversified; 0 low to 100 high).
10. The average terms of trade index was 104.2 (the index measures the relative movement of export and import prices; 2000 = 100).
11. The average percentage of exports within trade blocs in SSA is 7.1%. The East African Community has the highest within trade bloc share (16.5%), while the Economic Community of Central African States has the lowest share (0.6%).
12. In 2000–2006 the electric power consumption per capita (KWh per capita) of South Africa was 4,847; Ethiopia’s was 34.4.
13. Nigeria has the largest population (145 million); Seychelles has the smallest (0.1 million).
14. Guinea Bissau has the highest fertility rate (births per women) (7.1); Mauritius and Seychelles have the lowest (2.0).
15. Uganda has the highest dependency ratio (ratio of people younger than 15 or older than 64 to the workingage population) (1.1); Mauritius has the lowest (0.4).
16. 65% of SSA’s population lives in rural areas; Burundi has the highest rural share (90%), while Djibouti has the lowest (13.5%).
17. 43.3% of SSA’s population is in between the ages of 0 and 14; Uganda has the highest share at this age range (49.3%) and Mauritius the lowest (24%).
18. Niger has the highest participation rate of men (the percentage of the population ages 15–64 that is economically active, i.e., all people who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period) in the labor force (95.8%); Namibia has the lowest (64.4%).
19. Burundi has the highest participation rate of women in the labor force (93.0%); Sudan has the lowest (24.1%).
20. Côte d’Ivoire has the highest gap between labor market participation rate of boys and girls aged 15–24 (50%); Burundi has the lowest (1.3%).
21. Youth make up 36.9% of the working-age population, but 59.5% of the total unemployed, which is much higher than the world’s average for 2005 (43.7%).
22. Youth are employed primarily in agriculture, in which they account for 65% of the total employment.
23. Children and young people start work early—a quarter of children ages 5–14 are working, and among children ages 10–14, 31% are estimated to be working.
24. Before the age of 24, most female youth have already been married, but in many countries they get married even earlier: In Mozambique, 47% of females were already married before the age of 19; in Chad 49%; in Guinea, 46%; in Mali, 50%; in Sierra Leone, 46%; and in Niger, 62%.
25. Parenthood starts very early. In 2003 in Mozambique, 58% of females in the age range of 15–24 had already given birth at least once, and 18% of males at this age were fathers. These figures are respectively 57% and 17% in Malawi (2004); 57% and 7% in Niger (2006); 53% and 10% in Chad (2004); 47% and 15% in Uganda (2006); and 47% and 17% in Gabon (2000).
26. In Guinea Bissau, agriculture value added is 60.3% of the GDP; in Botswana it is 1.7%.
27. In Madagascar, 30.6% of cropland is irrigated; in Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda the figure is less than 0.1%. On average, only 4.7% of arable land is irrigated.
28. Mauritius has the highest life expectancy (73.2 years); Swaziland has the lowest (40.8 years).
29. Since 2000 Rwanda has made the greatest gains in life expectancy—about 5 years; in Lesotho life expectancy has decreased by about 6 years.
30. The highest numbers of clinical malaria cases reported between 1999 and 2001 were in Uganda (5.6 million); Ghana (3.4 million); Mozambique (3.2 million); and Malawi (2.9 million).
31. In Sierra Leone 2,000 women die for every 100,000 live births; in Mauritius 15 die per 100,000 live births. (MDG 5).
32. In 2005 SSA was a net food importer with a negative balance of $4.6 billion; Angola (–$805 million), Nigeria (–$1.7 billion) and Senegal (–$700 million) were among those with the highest food trade deficits, while Côte d’Ivoire ($1.9 billion) and South Africa ($935 million) were among those with the highest food trade surplus.
33. or the period 2000–06, 92% of women in Seychelles were literate; this figure was 13% for Chad and 15% for Niger.
34. Liberia has the lowest primary student-teacher ratio of 19; in Mozambique the ratio is 67.
35. Cape Verde has the highest gross enrolment rate in secondary education (80%); Niger has the lowest (11%).
36. 36% of children who start first grade reach grade five in Madagascar; in Mauritius 99% reach this grade (MDG 2).
37. The lowest net primary enrolment ratio is found in Djibouti (38%); the highest is in São Tomé and Principe (96%). (MDG 2).
38. For the period 2000–06, Seychelles had the highest adult literacy rate (92%); Mali and Burkina Faso had the lowest (24%).
39. In South Africa, 3% of the population was below the minimum dietary energy consumption in 2004; in Eritrea, 75% was below. (MDG 1).
40. Nearly 40% of children under the age of five are underweight in Niger (39.9%; in Gabon the figure is 8.8%. (MDG 1).
41. South Africa has 84 mobile phones per 100 people; Ethiopia has 1 per 100 people.
42. 17.5 per 100 people are mobile telephone subscribers in SSA, while 1.6 per 100 are fixed line subscribers.
43. In Eritrea, 5% of the population has access to improved sanitation facilities; in Mauritius, 94% has such access. (MDG 7).
44. In Liberia, nearly almost no one has internet access (0.03 per 100); there are 34 in every 100 people in Seychelles. (MDG 8).
45. It takes 7 days to start a business in Madagascar and Mauritius, and 233 days in Guinea Bissau. (IDA 10).
46. The cost to start a business is 5% of GNI per capita in Mauritius and 1,075% in Sierra Leone. (IDA 9).
47. In Chad, 23% of one-year olds are immunized against measles; in Mauritius and the Seychelles the rate is 99%. (MDG 4).
48. In Sierra Leone nearly three children in ten die before the age of five (270 per 1,000 live births); in the Seychelles, the rate is 13 per 1,000. (MDG 4, IDA 2).
49. Skilled personnel attend 6% of births in Ethiopia; in Mauritius they attend 99% of births. (MDG 5, IDA 4).
50. HIPC Decision Points have been reached by 27 countries; 23 of them have reached their HIPC Completion Points, of which 4 are still in the floating stage. (MDG 8).

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