GDP per capita (i.e. gross domestic product divided by total population) is the most efficient way of measuring productivity in economies. It indicates a nation’s standard of living (think of what everyone will get if the whole “wealth” of a nation is shared equally). Here is how Africa stands, using 2022 data, courtesy of Nairametrics:
Africa – $2,705
#1: Seychelles – $15,875
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#2: Mauritius – $10,216
#3: Gabon – $8,820
#4: Botswana – $7,738
#5 Equatorial Guinea – $7,053
#6: South Africa – $6,776
#7: Libya – $6,716
#8: Namibia – $4,911
#9: Egypt – $4,295
#10: Algeria – $4,274
#18: Nigeria – $2,184
Indeed, Nigeria is even below the African mean. We’re really a poor country despite what many of us think. Private jets, big suits, etc cannot hide the fact. Conclusion: Nigerians must get to work!
Comment on Feed:
Comment 1: A comparison of OPEC countries using price per litre of petrol versus their respective per capita income. Among the 13 OPEC member States, the price per litre of petrol goes from $0.004 in Venezuela to $1.386 in Equatorial Guinea. The per capita income goes from a low of $2184 for Nigeria and a maximum of $53,758 for UAE.
Based on what I would call “petrol access” for people in each of the 13 OPEC countries, I divided the per capita income by the price per litre in each country to get the quantity of petrol or number of litres which the income can purchase.
Congo came out with the lowest of 2007 litres followed by Nigeria with 2703 litres. Venezuela came out with the highest of about 4 million litres. The five countries with the lowest access to petrol (Congo, Nigeria, E.Guinea, Angola, and Gabon) are in sub-Saharan Africa. And from the data, it can be seen that the reason is because of a combination of low income and high price per litre. Libya would have been in the same category if not for its remarkably low price of petrol.
Why do countries in sub-Saharan Africa think it is okay to have high energy prices? High energy prices evidently a major factor that explains the prevalent poverty and low income across sub-Saharan Africa?
Comment 2: Prof … Forgive me … But GDP per capita is not in any way the almighty ,all powerful metric to determine the productivity of an economy or even the health of any Economy.
It is just one among many other parameters that should be assessed all together to know if an Economy is strong , viable and healthy. It is a bit as if you say because someone has headaches , then the person has malaria , which is not the right diagnosis. It could be that the person has overworked , the person thinks too much , the person is constipated ,etc. It could be anything , not only malaria. A typical case is Russia ,which is a strong economy that produces more than it consumes , that has almost zero debt compared to the most indebted country on earth , etc.
Also , African economies are not really evaluated for the simple reason that most businesses in Africa are informal , hence no data to really evaluate our strength. Like I laugh when I hear foreign agencies say Africans live with less than a dollar per day . Lol it can’t even buy yam or tomato , yet we eat.
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