One of the things that I'm always surprised by is how many people come across this Scrappy Little-Read Blog(TM) by searching for GDP in Africa. To that end, today, we're updating our previous look at GDP in Africa with the latest data available, the figures released for GDP-PPP (Gross Domestic Product adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity), population and GDP-PPP per capita for 2004. The information is presented in a dynamic table format, which allows you to rank the data either from lowest to highest or vice-versa in the table by clicking the individual column headings:
| GDP of African Nations: 2004 |
|---|
| Country | GDP-PPP (billions $USD) | Population (2004 est.) | GDP-PPP per Capita |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | 212.3 | 32129324 | 6608 |
| Angola | 23.2 | 10978552 | 2110 |
| Benin | 8.3 | 7250033 | 1150 |
| Botswana | 15.1 | 1561973 | 9635 |
| Burkina Faso | 15.7 | 13574820 | 1159 |
| Burundi | 4.0 | 6231221 | 642 |
| Cameroon | 30.2 | 16063678 | 1878 |
| Cape Verde | 0.6 | 415294 | 1445 |
| Central African Republic | 4.2 | 3742482 | 1135 |
| Chad | 15.7 | 9538544 | 1642 |
| Congo, Democratic Republic of the | 42.7 | 58317930 | 733 |
| Congo, Republic of the | 2.3 | 2998040 | 775 |
| Cote d'Ivoire | 24.8 | 17327724 | 1430 |
| Djibouti | 0.6 | 466900 | 1326 |
| Egypt | 316.3 | 76117421 | 4155 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 1.3 | 523051 | 2428 |
| Eritrea | 4.2 | 4447307 | 934 |
| Ethiopia | 54.9 | 67851281 | 809 |
| Gabon | 8.0 | 1355246 | 5878 |
| Gambia, The | 2.8 | 1546848 | 1809 |
| Ghana | 48.3 | 20757032 | 2325 |
| Guinea | 19.5 | 9246462 | 2109 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 1.0 | 1388363 | 726 |
| Kenya | 34.7 | 32021856 | 1083 |
| Lesotho | 5.9 | 1865040 | 3159 |
| Liberia | 2.9 | 3390635 | 856 |
| Libya | 37.5 | 5631585 | 6655 |
| Madagascar | 14.6 | 17501871 | 832 |
| Malawi | 7.4 | 11906855 | 622 |
| Maldives | 1.3 | 339330 | 3684 |
| Mali | 11.0 | 11956788 | 920 |
| Mauritania | 5.5 | 2998563 | 1846 |
| Mauritius | 15.7 | 1220481 | 12847 |
| Morocco | 134.6 | 32209101 | 4179 |
| Mozambique | 23.4 | 18811731 | 1243 |
| Namibia | 14.8 | 1954033 | 7554 |
| Niger | 9.7 | 11360538 | 855 |
| Nigeria | 125.7 | 137253133 | 916 |
| Rwanda | 10.4 | 7954013 | 1311 |
| Sao Tome and Principe | 0.2 | 181565 | 1179 |
| Senegal | 18.4 | 10852147 | 1692 |
| Sierra Leone | 3.3 | 5883889 | 567 |
| Somalia | 4.6 | 8304601 | 554 |
| South Africa | 491.4 | 42718530 | 11503 |
| Sudan | 76.2 | 39148162 | 1946 |
| Swaziland | 6.0 | 1169241 | 5147 |
| Tanzania | 23.7 | 36588225 | 648 |
| Togo | 8.7 | 5556812 | 1563 |
| Tunisia | 70.9 | 9974722 | 7106 |
| Uganda | 39.4 | 26404543 | 1492 |
| Zambia | 9.4 | 10462436 | 899 |
| Zimbabwe | 24.4 | 12671860 | 1923 |
| Africa (All) | 2087.7 | 872121812 | 2394 |
Analyzing the Data
The Richest and Poorest Nations of Africa
The richest nations in Africa in 2004 are unchanged from the previous 2002 data. The island nation of Mauritius is still the top-ranked (according to GDP-PPP per capita), with the nations of South Africa and Botswana next in line.
At the other end of the spectrum, the poorest nation in Africa is Somalia, which swapped places with 2002's poorest African nation Sierra Leone in this 2004's rankings.
Biggest Changes Since 2002
The biggest drop between 2002 and 2004 occurred for Liberia, whose civil war in the intervening years saw the nation's GDP-PPP per capita reduced by nearly 20%. The nations of the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Libya and Zimbabwe also saw substantial declines (greater than 10%) in GDP-PPP per capita during this period as well.
At the positive end, Chad realized a more than 51% gain in its GDP-PPP per capita between 2002 and 2004. The next greatest increase occurred in Angola, which saw a 34% increase in its GDP-PPP per capita.
Data Sources:
GDP-PPP Data: 2004 GDP-PPP Data for Individual Nations
Population Data: July 2004 Population Estimates
GSP and GDP per Capita: This data was calculated by simply dividing the published GDP-PPP data by each nation's population estimate for July 2004.