POPULATION
* Bigger in size than China, India, Europe and the United States combined, Africa has 1.2 billion inhabitants, speaking more than 2,100 languages and spanning 54 countries.
* Africa accounts for 16 percent, or 1.2 billion, of the world’s population.
* Africa’s population hit the 1 billion mark in 2010, with a continent-wide annual growth rate of 2.4 percent.
* Of the 2.4 billion people expected to be added to the world’s population by 2050, Africa will account for 1.3 billion.
* Africans are expected to number 2 billion by 2050.
* Africa has the second highest population after Asia.
* Africa will account for 39 percent of world population by 2100.
* By 2050, the populations in some 28 African countries will double.
* By 2100, Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Niger, Somalia, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia will see their populations increase at least five times.
* By 2100, five of the 10 most populous countries will be African.
* Mauritius is the only country in Africa that will see its population decrease at any point before 2050, with its current population of 1.27 million shrinking to 1.25 million.
* Over the next 35 years, half of the world’s total population growth will be concentrated in nine countries, five of them being Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda.
* As of 2015, Nigeria, at seventh position, is the only African country among the world’s 10 most populous countries. In 2050 it will become the world’s third largest country.
* As of 2015, the ratio of males to females in 10 African countries (Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Uganda and Zambia) is exactly 1:1.
* In another 27 African countries, fewer males are born for every 100 females.
* There are more than 200 million youth in Africa, comprising more than 20 percent of the continent’s population.
* Sixty percent of Africa’s population are under 24 years old and close to 70 percent under 25, making Africa the youngest continent in the world.
* In Kenya, young people are close to 75 percent of the population.
* By 2020, the median age will be 43 in Europe, 38 in China and just 20 in Africa.
* By 2040 Africa is set to have 1 in 5 of the planet’s young people.
* The top 10 countries with the youngest populations are in Africa. This will remain true through 2050 and 2100.
* By 2040 Africa is set to have 1 in 5 of the planet’s young people.
* Uganda has the youngest population in the world, with a fertility rate of 6.2 children.
* Nineteen of the 21 countries classified as “high-fertility” countries – meaning the average woman has five or more children over her lifetime – are in Africa, including Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda.
* At a fertility rate of 7.63 children per woman, Niger tops the continent’s “high-fertility” countries.
* The greatest increase in life expectancy since 2000 occurred in Africa where it rose six years. Globally, life expectancy rose three years to 70 years in the same period.
* Between 2010-2015, life expectancy in Africa was 60 years, behind Asia (72), Latin America (75), Europe (77) and Northern America (79). In 2100, however, Africa’s expectancy is expected to be 78 years, the largest gain of any region.
* Sub-Saharan Africa has seen the largest absolute declines in the numbers of children who die before their fifth birthday, from 142 to 99 deaths per 1,000 live births, most of this fall coming since 2000.
* Rates of urbanization in Africa are the highest in the world. By 2020, 66 percent of the continent’s population are expected to live in cities and be of working age.
* 52 out of the 54 countries in Africa have more than 1 million people each.
* 52 African cities have more than 1 million people each.
* Poverty levels of Africa’s population are expected to decline to 20 percent by 2020, from around 43 percent in 1995.
* Africa presents the highest proportion of illiterate youth in the world, estimated at about 25 percent, according to the African Development Bank’s 2013 Economic Outlook. Estimates suggest that about 133 million young people, accounting for over 50 percent of the youth population in Africa, lack formal education.
* About five million graduates are produced annually by African universities.
* There is one doctor for every 2,000 people in Africa.
* Today’s African Diaspora consists of approximately 30 million adults.
* By 2050, migration will account for 82 percent of population growth in developed countries, with Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean being net senders.
* In 2015, no African country features among the current top five senders (more than 100,000 emigrations annually): India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Mexico.
FINANCIAL SERVICES
* Kenya has become a global leader in mobile banking. Safaricom’s M-Pesa service redefined retail banking by making mobile phones all-in-one credit cards, ATMs, money transfer offices, and branches.
* Because of its success in mobile communications, Kenya has the highest share of the population with access to financial services—more than 70 percent—in all of sub-Saharan Africa.
* Africa has 29 stock exchanges.
* 80 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s adult population are unbanked.
* Bain & Company released a report in 2011 projecting double digit growth in Africa’s financial services sector is projected to see double digit growth by 2020.
* Africa’s retail banking sector is projected to grow 40 percent by 2020 from 2011.
* Diaspora remittances exceed foreign aid for the entire continent by 50 percent.
* Diaspora remittances rival foreign direct investment in many African countries. For example, Kenyans abroad now send home more than $1 billion a year, Nigerians $10 billion.
ECONOMIC GROWTH
* Africa’s growth rate is expected to average 7 percent annually for the next 20 years.
* Key sectors driving growth are telecommunications, banking, retail, construction, agriculture and resources.
* Africa’s collective GDP is expected to rise to $2.6 trillion by 2020 from $1.6 trillion in 2013.
* 80 percent of Africa’s combined GDP currently emanates from Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
* Dakar (Senegal), Ibadan (Nigeria), Kano (Nigeria) and Rabat (Morocco) will develop markets more than $10 billion by 2020.
* Since 2003, GDP across Sub-Saharan Africa’s 48 countries has risen an average of 5 percent to 7 percent per year.
* In 2012, five African countries outgrew China; 21 outgrew India
* Africa had six of 10 of the world’s fastest-growing economies in the decade to 2010.
* Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow at a faster clip than Brazil and India and claim seven of the world’s 10 fastest growing economies by 2015.
* In the past decade, two-thirds of Africa’s GDP growth came from non-commodity sectors, including wholesale and retail, transportation, telecommunications, and manufacturing.
* Among the five sub-regions, West and East Africa are expected to be the fastest growing at 6.6 percent and 6.0 percent, respectively, in 2013.
* Central Africa is forecast to sustain moderate growth of 4.7 per cent in 2013 and 4.4 per cent in 2014, with strong commodity production and export demand.
* Growth in North Africa (including Libya) is expected to remain strong at 4.2 per cent in 2013 and pick up to 4.6 per cent in 2014 as the political environment normalizes and economic activity gains momentum.
* Southern Africa is projected to grow at 4.0 per cent in 2013 and 4.3 per cent in 2014. The economy of South Africa is forecast to grow at 3.1 per cent, reflecting a stabilizing international environment and manufacturing.
* Growth prospects for oil-exporting countries will remain robust at 5.1 percent from sustained strong demand for oil and high prices. Non-oil activities will contribute strongly to the economic outturn in several countries.
* Sub-Saharan Africa’s 2008 GDP of $1.6 trillion equaled that of Brazil and Russia.
* Between 2000 and 2011, Equatorial Guinea was the world’s fastest-growing economy, with output growth averaging 17 percent.
* Africa’s new consumer class is driving economic growth and diversification away from commodities. According to McKinsey, four sectors will produce $2.5 trillion in annual revenue over the eight years beginning 2010: consumer ($520 billion); agriculture ($220 billion); infrastructure ($130 billion); commodities ($110 billion).
* Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania, are among the world’s top 10 fastest growing economies, based on 2011-2015 estimates by The Economist.
* 30 African countries will be middle income by 2030.
FASTEST GROWING ECONOMIES IN 2012 (Percent change over 2011)
* Sierra Leone 20.0
* Niger, 11.0
* Cote d’Ivoire, 8.2
* Angola, 8.1
* Ethiopia, 7.8
* Rwanda, 7.7
* Ghana, 7.5
* Eritrea, 7.5
* Zambia, 6.7
Compare China, 7.8 percent; India, 4.1 percent; Brazil, 0.9 percent
CONSUMER SPENDING
* Spending by African consumers is projected to rival that of Russia and India, with Sub-Saharan Africa’s consumers generating up to $1.6 trillion by 2020. equivalent to annual average spending of $520 billion.
* Africa’s combines consumer spending in 2012 was $1.3 trillion.
* Consumer spending in sub-Saharan Africa grew at a compound average rate of 4 percent in the decade 2000 to 2010.
* 856 million Sub-Saharan Africa consumers spent an estimated $600 billion in 2010.
* By 2020, 128 million households will have discretionary income, up 50 percent from 2010.
* Top consumer markets by 2020 will be food and beverages, housing, non-food consumer goods, health care, telecommunications, banking and education.
* Africa’s dry hair market—as the market for weaves, wigs and extensions is known—is estimated to be worth $6 billion a year and gr
owing, attracting global consumer giants such as Unilever and L’Oreal, who are investing heavily in African hair care products.
* By 2020 the largest consumer markets will be Alexandria (Egypt), Cairo (Egypt), Cape Town (South Africa), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Lagos (Nigeria).
* By 2030, the top 18 cities are projected to have $1.3 trillion combined spending power.
* Bob McDonald, CEO of U.S. consumer-goods giant Procter & Gamble, describes Africa as the company’s “next frontier.”
* Currently, only eight percent of Africans earn $10,000 or more a year, with 82 percent earning less than $3,600.
LABOR/EMPLOYMENT
* 1.1 billion Africans will be of working age by 2020.
* Africa’s labor force is projected to rise by 122 million between 2010 and 2020, creating a continent-wide labor force of 500 million by the end of the decade.
* Africa’s labor force has been growing strongly, expanding by 91 million over the past decade, yet only 37 million of the new entrants were employed in wage-paying jobs, according to the McKinsey Global Institute.
* 25 million young people will enter Africa’s labor force each year by 2025.
* The youth population currently constitutes about 37 percent of the total labor force.
* Young people make up about 60 percent of total unemployment in Africa.
* The majority of unemployed people in Africa are aged 15-24.
* The informal sector of the economy accounts for about 90 percent of the jobs created on the continent.
* Wages in emerging markets are gradually catching up to those of industrialized countries. Monthly wages in South Africa are projected to average upwards of 60 percent of monthly wages in the United States by 2030.
TRADE/INVESTMENT/REMITTANCES
* Africa loses more through illicit outflows, which include trade mispricing (false invoicing) and unrecorded private financial outflows, than it gets in aid and foreign direct investment. Between 2008 and 2010, illicit outflows averaged US$63.4 million annually. Aid from OECD and DAC member countries plus foreign direct investment totaled $62.2 billion in the same period.
* The value of intra-African trade has increased fourfold since 2001 to reach $130 billion in 2012, but its relative share has remained constant at around 12 percent.
* At 11 percent to 12 percent in 2012, the rate of return on foreign direct investment in Africa has exceeded that of other developing countries since 2006.
* Intra-African greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) projects as a percentage of greenfield inflows into Africa almost tripled between 2003-2013, from 7 percent in 2003 to over 21 percent in 2013, driven by a continuous rise in South African FDI into the continent, and supported by a dramatic increase in intra-regional FDI from Kenya and Nigeria since 2008.
* Firms in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria accounted for nearly 60 percent of project outflows into Africa, between 2003 and 2013.
* Between 2003 and 2013, over a third of intra-African FDI projects showed that regional markets were served by greenfield projects.
* External financial flows into Africa hit a record in 2012 and were expected to top $200 billion in 2013.
* Walmart completed a $2.4 billion acquisition of South African retailer Massmart.
* IBM made a $1.5 billion investment in African-focused technology company Bharti Airtel.
* IBM in 2012 opened its first African research lab in Nairobi, Kenya. IBM Research – Africa is IBM’s 12th global laboratory and the first science and technology research lab on the continent conducting both applied and far-reaching exploratory research.
* U.S. private-equity giant the Carlyle Group launched a sub-Saharan Africa investment practice.
* Apple is expanding shops for iPhone sales across the continent to meet demand of a mobile market predicted to reach more than a billion users by 2020.
* Rwanda ranks eighth in the world in the “Starting a Business” category of the global “Ease of Doing Business” index.
* Numbering some 30 million adults, the African Diaspora sends about US$40 billion annually to families and local communities back home.
* Remittances to Africa as a whole represent 50 percent more than net official development assistance (ODA) from all sources. For most countries, the amount also exceeds foreign direct investment (FDI).
* In several fragile states, remittances are estimated to exceed 50 percent of GDP.
* Most remittances are used for daily necessities, but up to 20 percent to 25 percent are available for other than immediate consumption.
* Payment of remittances typically is restricted to banks, whose exclusive agreements with large money transfer companies like Western Union and Money Gram limit competition and access for consumers. Mexico has as many pay-out locations as the entire continent of Africa, which has ten times the population.
* Nigeria is the largest recipient of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for about $22.3 billion in 2014.
* At 11.3 percent for sending the equivalent of $200, the price of remitting to Sub-Saharan Africa is well above global levels of 7.9 percent, reaching as high as 18 percent to 22 percent in some countries.
* Nine of the world’s ten most expensive remittance corridors are to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
* Remittance fees cost Sub-Saharan Africa an estimated $1.8 billion annually.
* The Overseas Development Institute estimates that reducing those charges to global levels would free up enough money to put 14 million children through primary school, or provide clean water to 21 million people.
* One-third (36 percent) of the continent’s infrastructure project investment is in the energy/power sector. Transportation accounts for the next highest investment, at 25 percent, followed by mining, real estate, water and oil and gas. Other investment sectors include healthcare, telecommunications, education, agriculture, shipping and ports, and social development.
* As of 2014, according to KPMG Africa, Nigeria had the most newly registered companies yearly, with 70 000; South Africa ranked second with 30 000 a year; and Kenya boasts the third highest number of newly registered companies in Africa, with 22 000 being registered yearly.
INFRASTRUCTURE
* African countries are now only able to spend about 5 percent of GDP on infrastructure, a figure which must rise to nearer 15 percent. Until then, this gap is costing the continent 2 percent of GDP.
* If African countries were to catch up with Korea in infrastructure, economic growth in the region could increase by 2.6 percentage points per year.
* Africans spend more than 30 percent of their time and income only on their daily commutes.
* The 40 countries of sub-Saharan Africa together generate roughly the same amount of power as Spain.
* In 2012, Deloitte declared Africa “at the start of a 20- to 30-year infrastructure development boom.”
* McKinsey projects the continent will spend $130 billion annually on infrastructure between 2012 and 2020.
* Six countries alone—Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania—will require $100 billion to $120 billion of annual capital investment between 2010 and 2016.
* At the 15th Summit of the African Union Summit, held in Kampala, Uganda, in July 2010, heads of state endorsed the multi-billion dollar Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), a joint initiative of The African Union (AU), The African Development Bank, and New Partnership for African Development.
* Africa’s infrastructure grid—roads, bridges, power—represents a $1 trillion investment prospect over the next 10-11 years, according to the International Finance Corp.
* Road access rate is only 34 percent, compared with 50 percent in other parts of the developing world, and subsequently, transport costs are higher by up to 100 percent.
* Around $45 billion a year is already being spent on infrastructure, about half of the $93 billion needed annually to meet Africa’s growth and development goals.”
* IBM’s global Computer Pain Survey of 15 cities ranks Nairobi as the fourth most congested in the world.
* Aviation in Africa supports 6.7 million jobs and $67.8 billion in in economic activity, according to IATA.
* The total number of accidents for African airlines dropped from 18 in 2010 to 8 in 2011.
* Sub-Saharan Africa boasts 20 undersea cables with capacity of 100 Terrabytes, opening new vistas for leapfrogging and service delivery.
* Africa’s 10 top investment countries are:
- South Africa
- Nigeria
- Angola
- Mozambique
- Ethiopia
- Tanzania
- Ghana
- Botswana
- Mauritius
- Kenya
POWER
* The entire installed power generation capacity of Africa’s 48 Sub-Saharan countries is 68 gigawatts, no more than Spain’s. As much as one-quarter of that is unavailable because of aging plants and poor maintenance, according to the African Development Bank.
* Per capita consumption of electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, averages 124 kilowatts a year, barely 1 percent of consumption in high-income countries.
* Just one person in five has access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa.
* If current trends continue, fewer than 40 percent of African countries will reach universal access to electricity by 2050.
* Power outages account for losses in sales and equipment damage amounting to 6 percent of revenues on average in formal sector enterprises, and as much as 16 percent in informal sector enterprises.
* The economic cost of power shortages can amount to 2 percent of GDP, according to the African Development Bank.
* Nearly 70 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population, some 600 million people, have no access to electricity. The 70 percent figure climbs to more than 85 percent when only rural areas are assessed.
* Sub-Saharan Africa will require more than $300 billion in investment to achieve universal electricity access by 2030.
AGRICULTURE/AGRIBUSINESS
* Africa has 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land.
* Africa’s agriculture sector records an average productivity rate of 36 percent.
* Africa spends $35 billion annually on food imports.
* Africa is currently the world’s leading importer and consumer of rice.
* Agriculture and agribusiness together are projected to be a US$1 trillion industry in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 (compared to $ 313 billion in 2010).
* Agricultural production and agribusiness together constitute an average of around 45 percent of the economy of Sub-Saharan Africa.
* Urban food markets are set to increase fourfold to exceed US$ 400 billion by 2030, requiring major agribusiness investments in processing, logistics, market infrastructure, and retail networks.
* Rice is Africa’s largest and fastest-growing import, valued at US$ 3.5 billion in 2009 or nearly half of total consumption.
* In West Africa, 75 percent of agriculture-related firms are micro or small enterprises, 20 percent are semi-industrial, and 5 percent are industrial. Employees are typically family members, and 50 percent to 90 percent are women.
* As of 2014, only 2 percent of Africa’s graduates are employed in agriculture.
* Women are the primary users of agricultural land in most African communities, yet their access to land on average is less than half that of men. Generally, title and inheritance rights across Africa are bestowed to male family members.
* Assuming that the 6 percent growth target set by the New Partnership for Africa’s Development is met to 2030, and marginal expenditures on food are at 0.5 (down from about 0.6 currently), total food and beverage markets in Sub-Saharan Africa will reach $1,000 billion by 2030, up from $313 billion currently.
* At around $1 billion, the total intraregional trade in food staples is a tiny fraction of Africa’s $25 billion food import bill.
* Africa has the potential to supply some 60 percent of the world’s food needs.
* There are more than 80 million smallholder farmers on the continent.
* African agriculture is made up of 80 percent smallholder farmers who are slowly organizing themselves into clusters of up to 100 farms to achieve economies of scale.
* Africana smallholder farmers lack access to formal credit. Ninety percent of the funds that go into African agriculture come from the farmers themselves.
* It has been estimated that for sub-Saharan Africa, growth generated by agriculture is eleven times more effective in reducing poverty than GDP growth in other sectors.
* In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 20 to 40 percent of the crops produced deteriorate after harvest because they cannot be safely stored.
* Post-harvest grain losses in sub-Saharan Africa average US$4 billion every year. This is food that could meet the nutritional needs of around 48 million people.
* Small farms account for 80 percent of all farms in sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries, they contribute up to 90 percent of production.
* In Africa, only about 6 percent of the total cultivated land is irrigated. This compares with 37 percent in Asia.
* 40 million hectares of agricultural land in Africa is physically suitable for irrigation. Yet, the percentage of irrigated arable land is 7 percent, barely 3.7 percent in sub-Saharan Africa alone.
* It is estimated that irrigation alone could increase output by up to 50 percent in Africa.
* An annual increase in irrigation investment of 3.6 percent would triple the irrigated area to 22 million hectares by 2050.
* Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa use less than 13 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare. In contrast, farmers in the Middle East and North Africa use about 73 kilograms, while farmers in East Asia and the Pacific use 190 kilograms.
* There are 800 million hectares of uncultivated land with rain-fed crop potential in sub-Saharan Africa, and virtually none in South and East Asia or North Africa.
* Today, more than one third of the rural population of sub-Saharan Africa lives five hours from the nearest market town of 5,000 people.
* It costs 5 times as much to transport a ton of rice in parts of central Africa than it does on major routes in Pakistan.
* Since 2000, agricultural growth rates in Nigeria and Ethiopia have been above 6 percent per year; rates in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Ghana have been between 4.0 and 5.2 percent; the continental average is 3.8 percent.
* Agriculture accounts for 26 percent of GDP in Ghana and as much as 46 percent in Ethiopia, compared with 14 percent on average across the continent.
* Urban areas represent roughly 60 percent of the African food economy in terms of total purchased food.
* An estimated one in four people in Africa are without enough food. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, 54 million children under five years of age lack the nutrition
necessary for proper health and development.
* The post-farmgate segments of Africa’s food supply chain (e.g., transportation, storage, processors, distribution) and downstream (retail and food stalls) together form 50-70 percent of food costs to urban Africans.
* African farmers face a majority-urban market when selling food. In West Africa, the urban share in all food consumption (purchased/marketed and home-consumption/production) is about 60 percent, and urban share in purchased/marketed food is roughly 70 percent, as in Southeast Asia currently. In eastern and southern Africa, the respective shares are roughly 40 percent (total food consumption), and 50 percent (marketed food), roughly.
* The global export market accounts for roughly 5 percent, or at most 10 percent, of Africa’s marketed food supply, compared to the 60 percent that is the urban share.
* About 95 percent of the African food market (in value terms) is domestic (local and regional); exports and imports constitute the rest.
* Producing and selling meat or dairy or fruit to towns and cities earns a farmer 5 to10 times more per hectare than grains.
* Africa’s share of the global agricultural market is a mere 2 percent.
* About 8 percent of the cotton traded in the world market is harvested in Sub-Saharan Africa.
* Close to 80 percent of African cotton is exported in raw form.
* Africa accounts for just about 1 percent of the total global consumption of cotton.
TOURISM
*Africa accounts for about 15 percent of the world’s population, but receives only about 3 percent of world tourism receipts and 5 percent of tourist arrivals.
* Number of hotel rooms being planned or constructed in Africa from 2013 to 2017: 40,000.
* The top cities for hotel room construction are Lagos, Nigeria (4,080 rooms in development); Cairo, Egypt (2,843 rooms); Hurghada, Egypt (2,221 rooms); Abuja, Nigeria (1,598 rooms); Algiers, Algeria (1,528 rooms); Tangier, Morocco (1,505 rooms); Nairobi (1,437 rooms).
* Africa’s world tourism receipts for 2012 totaled US$43.6 billion.
* Tourist arrivals in Africa totaled 63.6 million in 2012, up from 37 million in 2003, and from 17.4 million in 1990.
* Destinations with the strongest (double-digit) growth in tourist arrivals in 2012 were Cameroon, Cape Verde, Morocco, Egypt, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Tanzania.
* Tourist arrivals in Africa from the United States increased 34 percent between 2006 and 2013.
* The South Atlantic region of the United States accounted for 31 percent of all U.S. travelers to Africa, followed by the Middle Atlantic states at 23 percent, the Pacific region at 14 percent, West South Central states at 8 percent and New England states at 7 percent.
* The top-five destinations in Africa for Chinese tourists in 2012 were Egypt (172,190 visitors), South Africa (145,930 visitors), Ethiopia (128,800 visitors), Algeria (83,040 visitors), and Kenya (44,270 visitors). China is the world’s leading source of outbound tourists.
* Direct travel and tourism jobs in Africa totaled 8.2 million in 2012.
* Tourism accounted for 3.0 percent of total employment in Africa in 2012, against a world average of 3.4 percent.
* In 2012, tourism accounted for 2.5 percent of total employment in sub-Saharan Africa, and 5.7 percent in North Africa.
* African citizens require visas to visit 60 percent of African countries, hence the push for regional single-entry visas.
* The Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) was the fastest growing destination by tourist arrivals between 2010 and 2011, with a 129 percent increase year on year.
* Niche markets gaining momentum in African tourism are adventure travel, food tourism, rural tourism, and family and multigenerational travel.
* AfroEats, a new international festival, was launched in 2013 (April 30-May6) in Dakar, Senegal.
* Pearls of Uganda, launched in 2010, is a rural initiative to spur tourism growth in western Uganda
* 15 percent of multigenerational travelers indicated an interest in visiting Africa in the next two years.
* Delta Air Lines, the largest airline operating to Africa from the United States, captured 36 percent of all U.S.-Africa flights in September 2013. Delta’s destinations in Africa are Accra, Ghana; Lagos, Nigeria; Dakar, Senegal; and Johannesburg, South Africa.
* Ethiopian Airlines, (46 destinations in Africa) South African Airways (29 destinations in Africa), and Nigeria-based Arik Air (8 destinations in Africa)) fly directly from the United States to Africa.
MEDICAL TOURISM
* Africa is increasing its market share in medical tourism as both Africans and non-Africans head south for treatment. Egypt, South Africa and Tunisia are key destinations.
* The East Africa Health Federation on Healthcare values medical travel and medical tourism in East Africa at US$60 million annually.
* Rwanda has been investing in its healthcare infrastructure in order to become East Africa’s leader in medical tourism.
* According to Consultancy Africa Intelligence, Ghana’s medical tourism sector is developing fast, and seems poised to become the leader in West Africa. It specializes in cosmetic and other surgery, hydrotherapy and beauty treatments.
* Currently, South Africa is Africa’s top medical tourism destination, with surgery in that country costing roughly one-third of the cost of corresponding surgeries in Britain.
* Clinics in Tunisia offer packages that combine a beach vacation with a little rhinoplasty. Tunisia is known for procedures for cardiology, urology and gynecological complications, as well as plastic and dental surgery.
* Prices for plastic surgery in Egypt are an estimated 60 percent to 70 percent lower than corresponding treatment in the U.S. or Britain.
* Nigeria is taking steps to transform itself into a medical tourism destination. Nigerians traveling abroad for medical treatment contribute to a loss of more than US$500 million to the Nigerian economy.
* Each African who travels overseas for medical treatment spends between US$20,000 and $40,000 per trip.
HEALTH/HEALTHCARE
* Sub-Saharan Africa’s healthcare market will reach an estimated $35 billion by 2016.
* At a 2001 African Union (AU) meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, African countries agreed to allocate 15 percent of their budgets to healthcare. As of 2014, only six countries (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda and Zambia) have met this commitment.* Four of the six countries allocating 15 percent of their budget still only spend US$14 dollars per capita on health.
* Between 2000 and 2009, government health expenditure in Africa increased from US$13.6 billion to $43.3 billion, a 92 percent rise in real terms.
* Government expenditure on health as a proportion of GDP grew from 2.3 percent in 2000 to 2.5 percent in 2009 in Africa, with per capita expenditures rising from US$16.8 to $43.4 in the same period.
* An estimated 500,000 – 650,000 hospital beds are to be built in the next decade in Africa, with resulting in demand hospital equipment, medical devices and pharmaceuticals.
* Hospital development across Africa is increasing opportunities for international healthcare investors and solution providers involved in hospital equipment, pharmaceuticals, medical technologies and other healthcare services and products.
* Africa today has a shortage of about 800,000 health workers, based on goals set for 2015 under the UN Millennium Development Declaration.
* There is one doctor for every 2,000 people in Africa. Several countries have more doctors abroad than at home.
* For every Liberian doctor working in Liberia, two work abroad.
* Zimbabwe has 45,000 traditional healers and only 1,400 medical doctors.
* For every 1000 people in sub-Saharan Africa, only 2.5 healthcare workers are available to them.
* Africa only has about 3 percent of the world’s human resource, or health workers, population.
* Africa has only about 1 percent of all the funding for health in the world.
* Those living in Africa’s urban areas are more likely to receive better healthcare services than those in rural or remote regions.
* About 24 percent of the world’s disease burden is borne by Africa.
* Chronic conditions such as obesity and heart are expected to overtake communicable diseases as Africa’s biggest health challenge by 2030.
* Malaria is widespread and kills one African child every 30 seconds, making it the leading cause of death among children under five years old in many African countries.
* As of 2011, deaths linked to malaria had fallen by 33 percent since 2000.
* AIDS-related deaths fell by 30 percent between 2004 and 2010 in sub-Saharan Africa, 32 percent between 2005 and 2011.
* HIV/ AIDS infection rates fell 25 percent in sub-Saharan Africa between 2001 and 2011, faster than the global rate of 20 percent.
* Obesity rates in sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to be three times higher in urban areas than in rural ones.
MOBILE/DIGITAL LANDSCAPE
* Africa has the fastest growing telecoms market in the world, with 316 million subscribers in only 10 years.
* The number of undersea fiberoptic cables landing in Africa was expected to increase from about two active cables in 2001 to around 16 by the end of 2014.
* Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the world’s highest mobile phone usage rates.
* Mobile penetration in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase from 52 percent in 2012 to 79 percent in 2020.
* Mobile subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa are forecast to exceed 635 million by the end of 2014, and are predicted to rise to around 930 million by the end of 2019.
* Mobile broadband connections are now anticipated to quadruple from its 2012 figure to reach 160 million in 2016.
* Mobile Internet use in Africa will increase twenty-fold in the next five years, double the estimated growth rate in the rest of the world.
* The Internet can contribute up to $300 billion to Africa’s GDP by 2025, from an estimated $18 billion in 2013.
* In Africa, the proportion of web-browsing using mobile technology relative to fixed lines is the highest in the world.
* 56 percent of all Africans – more than 600 million people – are expected to own a mobile phone by 2014.
* Mobile innovation in Africa has fostered a new generation of technology entrepreneurs. Kenya now hosts iHub, a digital and physical open source center providing community resources to tech entrepreneurs to develop ideas and connect to investors.
* Silicon Valley venture capital funds are eyeing African investment opportunities in what is now being called Silicon Savannah.
* The African IT market is expected to grow from $8.5 billion to $12.5 billion by 2015.
* In Nigeria, the number of payments made by mobile phone more than doubled to 2.4 million in the first half of 2012 from the same period a year earlier, while Internet payments rose 9.3 percent, according to the country’s central bank.
MINERAL WEALTH
* Africa is estimated to host 30 percent of the world’s mineral reserves, and an even higher proportion of deposits of gold, platinum, diamonds and manganese.
* Africa has 10 percent of the world’s reserves of oil; 40 percent of the world’s gold; 80 percent to 90 percent of the world’s chromium and platinum.
* Production of oil, gas and most minerals in Africa is set to continue to grow at 2 percent to 4 percent per year.
* South Africa produces three-quarters of the world’s platinum, 40 percent of chromium and more than 15 percent of gold and manganese.
* Guinea accounts for 8 percent of world bauxite production.
* The Democratic Republic of the Congo accounted in 2010 for half of production the world’s cobalt, one quarter of industrial diamonds, 14 percent of tantalum, and 3 percent of copper and tin.
* Zambia is estimated to rank sixth in the world in the production of copper ore and fifth in the production of cobalt ore.
* Botswana accounts for around 20 percent of diamond exports.
* Africa’s gold producers – mainly Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Mali and Tanzania – together account for 9 percent of gold production, double the share in 2000.
* Sierra Leone is the 10th-ranked producer of diamonds by volume and the third-ranked producer of rutile, a heavy mineral used in paints, ceramics and plastics.
* Namibia and Niger are respectively the fourth-and fifth-ranked producers of uranium, together accounting for about 17 percent of world output.
* Guinea has some of the world’s highest-grade iron ore reserves.
* BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, also holds four licenses for iron ore exploration in Liberia.
* Proven oil reserves in Africa increased by 15 million barrels between 2010 and 2011.
PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT
* An acre in a prime zone in Accra can cost up to US$2 million.
* The mortgage market is underdeveloped or non-existent in the majority of the continent. The mortgage to GDP ratio for Ghana remains under 1 percent, compared to 32 percent for South Africa (SARB, 2011) and 19.6 percent for Namibia (Bank of Namibia 2011).
* Challenges of accessing funding for property developments in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Although some developments in South Africa are funded with up to 100 percent debt, in the rest of the continent developers often need to put down around 50 percent in cash.
* In the first quarter of 2012, the value of prime property in the world’s key cities fell by 0.4 percent, while that in Nairobi rose by 24 percent making it, globally, the strongest performer.
CHINA IN AFRICA
* China’s investment in Africa has increased a staggering 30-fold since 2005.
* 2,000 Chinese firms are now present in 50 African countries.
* Brookings Institute estimates China has 155 commercial attaches in Africa, roughly three per country.
* In 2009, China surpassed the Unites States as Africa’s largest trading partner.
* China’s two-way trade with Africa valued $152 billion in 2012, down from $166 billion in 2011, compared to $73 billion and $126 billion, respectively, in U.S.-Africa two-way trade.
* From 2000 to 2010, China’s Export Import Bank cumulative financing authorizations for Africa totaled $67.2 billion, against $7.3 billion for the U.S. Export Import Bank in the same period.
* China Exim Bank estimated that 85 percent of the 800 or so Chinese companies operating in Africa in 2006 were privately owned small and medium-size enterprises.
* Interest rates on China Exim Bank loans to Africa range from 1 percent to 6 percent, with repayment periods of 5 years to 25 years and a grace period of 2 to 10 years.
* Angola has been one of the four biggest recipients of Chinese financing for infrastructure projects. It supplies 51 percent of China’s oil imports from Sub-Saharan Africa.
* In 2004, China extended a $2 billion credit line to Angola for infrastructure development. As repayment, Angola agreed to supply China 10,000 barrels of crude oil a day. This arrangement, which gave birth to the term “Angola model,” broadly describes China’s relationship with much of Africa.
* Equipment and machinery are China’s largest and fastest growing sectors in trading with Africa.
* China’s infrastructure investments in Africa totaled $35 billion from 2001 to 2010.
* China’s infrastructure financing in Sub-Saharan Africa has exceeded that of the World Bank since 2005.
* China has invested $23 billion on oil refineries in Nigeria with a view toward access to oil reserves.
* China has invested $6 billion in the Democratic Republic of Congo for mines, roads, rails, hospitals and schools infrastructure.
AFRICAN COMPANIES
* 20 African companies have achieved revenues of at least $3 billion.
* An estimated 95 percent of businesses in Africa are MSMEs (micro, small and medium-size enterprises).
* SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises) are responsible for roughly 40 percent of GDP and 50 percent of jobs on the continent.
* For SMEs that lack the credit history or required collateral to access traditional forms financing, lease financing for equipment and capital goods is an important alternative. With the exception of Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia, the leasing market is in its nascent stages, with penetration rates ranging from 1 percent to 5 percent, against a global average of 20 percent.
