African Countries by GDP

Nominal GDP in current US dollars from the most recent IMF and World Bank estimates. GDP per capita is calculated against current population estimates.

Rank	Country	GDP	GDP/capita	% of Africa	Region
1	Nigeria	$477.4B	$2,133	16.0%	West Africa
2	Egypt	$396.0B	$3,600	13.2%	North Africa
3	South Africa	$380.9B	$6,306	12.7%	Southern Africa
4	Algeria	$224.1B	$4,936	7.5%	North Africa
5	Ethiopia	$156.1B	$1,234	5.2%	East Africa
6	Morocco	$142.9B	$3,811	4.8%	North Africa
7	Kenya	$113.4B	$2,058	3.8%	East Africa
8	Angola	$106.7B	$2,997	3.6%	Central Africa
9	Ivory Coast	$79.4B	$2,757	2.7%	West Africa
10	Tanzania	$77.1B	$1,177	2.6%	East Africa
11	Ghana	$76.6B	$2,287	2.6%	West Africa
12	Democratic Republic of the Congo	$67.5B	$660	2.3%	Central Africa
13	Sudan	$51.7B	$1,079	1.7%	North Africa
14	Tunisia	$51.3B	$4,137	1.7%	North Africa
15	Libya	$50.4B	$7,304	1.7%	North Africa
16	Uganda	$48.8B	$1,034	1.6%	East Africa
17	Cameroon	$48.6B	$1,730	1.6%	Central Africa
18	Zimbabwe	$32.4B	$1,988	1.1%	Southern Africa
19	Senegal	$31.1B	$1,757	1.0%	West Africa
20	Zambia	$29.5B	$1,475	1.0%	Southern Africa
21	Mozambique	$21.9B	$646	0.7%	Southern Africa
22	Guinea	$21.2B	$1,493	0.7%	West Africa
23	Gabon	$20.9B	$8,708	0.7%	Central Africa
24	Botswana	$20.4B	$7,757	0.7%	Southern Africa
25	Mali	$20.4B	$903	0.7%	West Africa
26	Burkina Faso	$20.3B	$871	0.7%	West Africa
27	Chad	$18.6B	$1,051	0.6%	Central Africa
28	Benin	$17.4B	$1,308	0.6%	West Africa
29	Madagascar	$16.7B	$551	0.6%	East Africa
30	Niger	$16.6B	$634	0.6%	West Africa
31	Mauritius	$14.4B	$11,077	0.5%	East Africa
32	Republic of the Congo	$14.4B	$2,361	0.5%	Central Africa
33	Rwanda	$13.7B	$993	0.5%	East Africa
34	Malawi	$13.2B	$632	0.4%	Southern Africa
35	Namibia	$12.6B	$4,846	0.4%	Southern Africa
36	Equatorial Guinea	$12.3B	$7,235	0.4%	Central Africa
37	Mauritania	$10.4B	$2,122	0.3%	West Africa
38	Somalia	$9.0B	$511	0.3%	East Africa
39	Togo	$8.4B	$955	0.3%	West Africa
40	South Sudan	$5.7B	$518	0.2%	East Africa
41	Eswatini	$4.7B	$3,917	0.2%	Southern Africa
42	Liberia	$4.3B	$796	0.1%	West Africa
43	Sierra Leone	$4.0B	$465	0.1%	West Africa
44	Djibouti	$3.9B	$3,421	0.1%	East Africa
45	Burundi	$3.3B	$250	0.1%	East Africa
46	Central African Republic	$2.7B	$491	0.1%	Central Africa
47	Eritrea	$2.6B	$703	0.1%	East Africa
48	Lesotho	$2.4B	$1,043	0.1%	Southern Africa
49	Cape Verde	$2.1B	$3,750	0.1%	West Africa
50	Gambia	$2.1B	$778	0.1%	West Africa
51	Seychelles	$2.1B	$21,000	0.1%	East Africa
52	Guinea-Bissau	$1.9B	$905	0.1%	West Africa
53	Comoros	$1.3B	$1,529	0.0%	East Africa
54	Western Sahara	$0.9B	$1,500	0.0%	North Africa
55	São Tomé and Príncipe	$0.6B	$2,609	0.0%	Central Africa

Concentration of African Economic Output

The five largest African economies — Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco — together account for approximately 55% of continental GDP. Nigeria alone produces roughly 16% of African economic output.

GDP per Capita: A Different Picture

Ranking by total GDP highlights size, not prosperity. When measured per resident, smaller economies like the Seychelles and Mauritius top the rankings, while populous countries like Ethiopia and DR Congo fall well below the African average despite large total GDPs.

AfCFTA and the African Common Market

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), launched in 2021, aims to create the world's largest single market by number of countries — 54 member states covering 1.4 billion people. Implementation is gradual and still incomplete, but the agreement has the potential to lift intra-African trade from its current 15% of total African trade to over 50%.

Sectoral Patterns

Africa's economies remain unusually concentrated in commodities — oil (Nigeria, Algeria, Angola), gas (Egypt, Mozambique), copper (Zambia, DRC), gold (Ghana, South Africa, Mali), cocoa (Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana) and diamonds (Botswana, DRC). Services and manufacturing sectors are growing rapidly, especially in Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco and Côte d'Ivoire.

How African GDP Is Measured

Gross domestic product measures the total value of all goods and services produced within a country in a year. The figures in the table above are nominal GDP in current US dollars, the most common basis for international rankings because it converts every economy to a single, comparable currency. Nominal GDP is the headline number quoted by the IMF in its World Economic Outlook and by the World Bank in its national accounts data, and it is what most "biggest economy" league tables are built from.

There is a second widely used measure: GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP). PPP adjusts for the fact that a dollar buys far more in Lagos or Addis Ababa than it does in New York or London. Because prices for housing, food and local services are lower across much of Africa, most African economies are considerably larger when measured at PPP than at market exchange rates. Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Algeria, for example, all rank higher on PPP tables than on nominal tables. Neither measure is "right" — nominal dollars are better for comparing the size of internationally traded output, while PPP is better for comparing real living standards and the volume of goods a population actually consumes.

One consequence of using current US dollars is that rankings can shift even when nothing changes in the real economy. When a national currency such as the Nigerian naira, the Egyptian pound or the South African rand weakens against the dollar, that country's GDP can fall sharply in dollar terms while local output is flat or even rising. This is why the order of the top three African economies has changed several times in recent years, and why the IMF and World Bank revise their estimates periodically as exchange rates, inflation data and rebased national accounts come in. Some governments also "rebase" their GDP — updating the base year and methodology — which can lift the reported figure substantially overnight, as Nigeria famously did in 2014.

GDP by Region

Africa's economic output is unevenly spread across its five sub-regions. North Africa — led by Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya — is the most industrialized and, taken together, one of the largest regional blocs, with diversified manufacturing, tourism, energy and a relatively high average GDP per capita. West Africa is anchored by Nigeria, whose oil-driven economy makes the region a heavyweight, supported by faster-diversifying performers such as Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal.

Southern Africa is dominated by South Africa, the continent's most sophisticated financial and industrial economy, alongside resource exporters like Angola, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. East Africa is the continent's fastest-growing region in aggregate, with Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda driving expansion in agriculture, services and infrastructure. Central Africa, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo, holds enormous mineral and energy wealth but remains the smallest regional economy by output and the most dependent on raw commodities.

As a rough guide, North Africa and Southern Africa together generate a little under half of continental GDP, West Africa contributes roughly a quarter on the strength of Nigeria, and East and Central Africa make up the remainder. These shares move over time: East Africa's share has been rising steadily thanks to its growth and population dynamics, while Central Africa's tends to track global commodity prices.

Fastest-Growing African Economies

Africa is home to several of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and the African Development Bank routinely highlights a cluster of standout performers. Ethiopia has expanded at high single-digit and occasionally double-digit rates for much of the past two decades, powered by large public investment in infrastructure, manufacturing and hydropower, though it has also faced bouts of debt stress and currency pressure. Rwanda has become a byword for disciplined economic management, posting consistently strong growth built on services, tourism and a business-friendly regulatory environment.

In West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire has rebounded into one of the continent's most dynamic economies on the back of cocoa, agriculture and infrastructure, while Senegal has combined steady growth with new offshore oil and gas production. Benin has quietly become one of the region's faster-growing economies through agricultural processing, port logistics and prudent fiscal policy. These countries share common ingredients: relatively stable governance, investment in roads, ports and power, and a gradual shift from raw commodity exports toward processing and services.

Rapid growth from a low base is easier to sustain than growth from a high one, so headline percentage rates in these economies often exceed those of larger, more mature economies like South Africa. Translating that growth into higher living standards, however, depends on whether it outpaces population growth and reaches ordinary households — a challenge explored further below.

Resource-Dependent vs Diversified Economies

A defining divide in African economics is between economies that depend heavily on a single commodity and those that have diversified their output. Resource-dependent economies — such as Nigeria, Angola, Algeria and Libya (oil), Botswana (diamonds), Zambia and the DRC (copper and minerals), and Equatorial Guinea and Gabon (oil) — can enjoy very high GDP figures when global prices are favourable. Botswana and Gabon, for instance, post some of the highest GDP-per-capita figures on the continent largely because of mineral and oil wealth spread across small populations.

The drawback is volatility. When oil or metal prices fall, government revenue, the currency and overall GDP can contract sharply, a pattern often called the "resource curse." Heavy reliance on extractive exports can also crowd out manufacturing and agriculture, leave economies exposed to global price swings, and concentrate wealth without creating broad-based employment.

Diversified economies — Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and increasingly Côte d'Ivoire — spread their output across agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, finance and a growing services and technology sector. These economies tend to be more resilient to commodity shocks and to generate more jobs per unit of GDP. Much of Africa's long-term economic strategy, including the goals behind AfCFTA, is aimed precisely at helping more countries move up the value chain from exporting raw materials to processing and manufacturing them domestically.

GDP per Capita and Living Standards

Total GDP measures the size of an economy; GDP per capita — output divided by population — is a far better proxy for average prosperity. The two rankings look strikingly different. The Seychelles, with output above $21,000 per resident, and Mauritius, above $11,000, lead the continent despite being among its smallest economies, because their modest populations share a relatively large output. Resource-rich Gabon, Botswana, Libya and Equatorial Guinea also rank highly on a per-capita basis.

At the other end, several of Africa's largest economies fall well below the continental average once population is taken into account. Nigeria, the biggest economy overall, has GDP per capita of only about $2,100, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia — both major economies by total size — sit near the bottom of the per-capita table. Burundi, Somalia, South Sudan and Sierra Leone are among the lowest, reflecting deep poverty and, in several cases, conflict.

Even GDP per capita has limits as a welfare measure. It is an average, so it can mask sharp inequality, and it does not capture the large informal economy that supports hundreds of millions of Africans, the value of unpaid work, or differences in the cost of living. This is one reason analysts pair it with PPP-adjusted figures and with broader indicators such as the Human Development Index when assessing real living standards.

Challenges: Informality, Debt and Currency Volatility

Several structural challenges shape African GDP figures and complicate the task of measuring them. The first is the informal sector. Across much of the continent, a large share of economic activity — street trade, smallholder farming, artisanal mining, unregistered services — takes place outside formal records. Statistical agencies estimate it as best they can, but it means official GDP almost certainly understates true activity and makes year-to-year figures less precise than in advanced economies.

A second challenge is public debt. After a wave of borrowing in the 2010s, a number of African governments now spend a large portion of revenue servicing debt, which constrains their ability to invest in infrastructure, health and education. The IMF and World Bank have repeatedly flagged debt sustainability as a risk in countries that borrowed heavily, and several have had to restructure their obligations. High debt-service costs can slow growth and leave economies vulnerable to shifts in global interest rates.

A third is currency volatility and inflation. Sharp depreciations in currencies such as the naira, the Egyptian pound, the Ethiopian birr and the Zimbabwean dollar can drive up the price of imported goods, erode household purchasing power and shrink reported dollar GDP even when domestic output holds steady. Managing exchange rates, taming inflation and building foreign-currency reserves are recurring policy priorities across the continent and a major reason GDP rankings are revised so often.

Outlook: AfCFTA, Demographics and Industrialization

The long-term outlook for African GDP rests on three powerful forces. The first is the African Continental Free Trade Area. By gradually dismantling tariffs and trade barriers among 54 member states, AfCFTA aims to lift intra-African trade — historically only around 15% of the continent's total — and to give manufacturers a market large enough to justify investment. The World Bank has estimated that full implementation could add substantially to regional income over the coming decades, though progress depends on better transport links, harmonized rules and political will.

The second force is demographics. Africa has the youngest and fastest-growing population in the world, on track to roughly double by mid-century. A large, young workforce can power a "demographic dividend" of rising output and consumption — but only if economies create enough jobs and invest in education, health and skills. Without that, rapid population growth can outpace GDP growth and hold down GDP per capita, as it already does in several countries.

The third is industrialization and the digital economy. Many governments and the African Development Bank are pushing to move economies up the value chain — processing commodities domestically, expanding manufacturing, and building out financial technology, mobile money and digital services where African firms such as those in Kenya and Nigeria are already global pioneers. If these trends combine — deeper continental trade, a productive young workforce and a shift toward higher-value industry — Africa's share of global GDP is widely expected to rise meaningfully over the coming decades.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which African country has the largest GDP?

Nigeria has the largest nominal GDP in Africa, at roughly $477 billion, accounting for about 16% of the continent's total output. Egypt and South Africa rank second and third, and the three economies are close enough in size that the top position can shift between them from year to year as exchange rates and oil prices move.

What is the total GDP of Africa?

The combined nominal GDP of Africa's economies is roughly $3 trillion in current US dollars, according to IMF and World Bank estimates. That is about 3% of global GDP for a continent holding around 18% of the world's population, which is why Africa's economic output is widely expected to grow as a share of the global total over the coming decades.

Which African country has the highest GDP per capita?

The Seychelles has the highest GDP per capita in Africa, above $21,000, followed by Mauritius, Gabon, Botswana and Libya. These are small or resource-rich economies. Ranking countries by GDP per capita gives a very different picture from ranking by total GDP, because the largest economies are also among the most populous.

What is AfCFTA?

AfCFTA is the African Continental Free Trade Area, a trade agreement launched in 2021 that aims to create a single market spanning 54 member states and about 1.4 billion people. By gradually removing tariffs and trade barriers, it is intended to raise intra-African trade and support industrialization across the continent.

Which African economies are growing fastest?

Several East and West African economies have posted some of the fastest sustained growth rates on the continent, including Ethiopia, Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Benin. The African Development Bank consistently lists a number of African countries among the fastest-growing economies in the world.

Last updated: June 2026. Figures based on the latest available IMF World Economic Outlook and World Bank national accounts data; GDP figures are nominal in current US dollars and are revised periodically.

Related Pages

• Africa population by country
• Top 15 richest African countries
• Poorest countries by GDP per capita
• African currencies