Africa has some of the fastest growing economies in the world. The continent of Africa is predicted to have a GDP of $29 trillion by 2050, driven primarily by its natural resources, trade, and agriculture sectors. Compared to other continents, Africa might be one of the least developed of the major continents as it’s richest countries might be far off behind than the world richest countries.
Over time Africa has been catching up of late with some of the global and leading technologies and advancements which in turn has been growing their economies.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is one of the best methods used to compare the countries’ wealth. The GDP is the value of goods and services produced by a country in one year and can be expressed in two ways; the first being US$.
In the second method, GDP is expressed in a fictitious currency known as international dollars (INT) after first being adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), which modifies each country’s GDP in relation to its local cost of living. The rankings and outcomes can vary based on which of the two approaches is applied. ( World Population Review)
Top 10 Richest African Countries by Overall GDP (current US$ – World Bank)*:
- Nigeria — $440,834 million
- South Africa — $419,015 million
- Egypt — $404,143 million
- Algeria — 163,044 million
- Morocco — $142,866 million
- Ethiopia — $111,271 million
- Kenya — $110,347 million
- Ghana — $77,594 million
- Ivory Coast — $70,043 million
- Tanzania — $67,404 million
* Data year 2021 (applies to all tables marked with *)
Top 10 Richest African Countries by Overall GDP (current PPP INT$ – World Bank)*:
- Egypt — $1.39 trillion
- Nigeria — $1.15 trillion
- South Africa — $868.58 billion
- Algeria — $535.80 billion
- Morocco — $333.24 billion
- Ethiopia — $306.45 billion
- Kenya — $276.22 billion
- Angola — $223.97 billion
- Ghana — $196.05 billion
- Sudan — $185.64 billion
Source: worldpopulationreview.com