Richest African Countries 2006 GDP

Wealthiest Nations in Africa with Fastest-Growing GDPs

Sep 6, 2007
Daniel Workman

South African sunset - cimeries@MORGUEFILE.COM (172553)

South Africa is tops in terms of GDP but falls well behind Equatorial Guinea's GDP per capita.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) refers to the total value or wealth of final goods and services that a nation produces in a specified year.

Both total GDP and per capita statistics below are based on global purchasing power parity (PPP). The figures shown represent numbers converted to international dollars using PPP rates. For comparison purposes, amounts have been converted to international dollars. One international dollar has the same purchasing power in a given country as the U.S. dollar has in the United States.

Richest African Countries 2006: GDP Per Country

South Africa … $606.4 billion in international$ (up 8% from 2005)
Algeria ... $262.2 billion (up 8.5%)
Nigeria … $181.8 billion (up 10.2%)
Morocco … $150.8 billion (up 4.8%)
Sudan … $98.8 billion (up 11.2%)
Tunisia … $91.4 billion (up 7.4%)
Ethiopia … $78.4 billion (up 12%)
Ghana … $59.4 billion (up 9.1%)
Angola … $53.9 billion (up 24.3%)
Democratic Republic of Congo … $50.4 billion (up 9.7%)
Uganda … $48.5 billion (up 9.2%)
Kenya … $45.6 billion (up 8.9%)
Cameroon … $40.3 billion (up 5.7%)
Côte d'Ivoire … $31.4 billion (up 4.9%)
Tanzania … $30.6 billion (up 10%)

Out of 50 African nations, the top 10 countries above generated almost 40% of Africa’s total GDP in 2006.

Richest African Countries 2006: Fastest-Growing GDP

Angola enjoyed the highest annual GDP gains in 2006, followed by Chad, Liberia, Ethopia and Sudan.

While the above statistics present GDP by country, the following list takes into consideration each country’s population. These numbers are known as GDP per capita. For example, South Africa has a population of over 47 million while Equatorial Guinea has only about 551,000 people.

Richest African Countries 2006: GDP Per Capita

Equatorial Guinea … $20,322.06 in international$ (up 6.1% from 2005)
Seychelles … $17,915.19 (up 0.7%)
Botswana … $16,190.21 (up 9.8%)
Mauritius … $13,239.93 (up 5.7%)
South Africa … $12,795.81 (up 7.1%)
Tunisia … $8,898.20 (up 6%)
Namibia … $8,423.49 (up 5.5%)
Algeria ... $7,827.34 (up 6.7%)
Gabon ... $7,403.44 (up 3.4%)
Cape Verde ... $7,244.43 (up 7%)
Swaziland ... $5,244.09 (up 3%)
Morocco ... $4,955.67 (up 3.7%)
Angola ... $3,399.47 (up 20.7%)
Ghana … $2,771.03 (up 6.3%)
Sudan ... $2,729.14 (up 8.6%)

Equatorial Guinea’s leading GNP per capita is almost 8 times higher than Sudan’s amount per person. Yet Equatorial Guinea’s per capital statistic is well under half of the comparable statistic for the United States of America.

Richest African Countries 2006: Fastest-Growing GDP Per Capita

Angola, Chad and Liberia had the fastest GDP growth per capita in 2006 from the prior year.

Sources for this Article

This article presents independent calculations and insights based on data drawn from the International Monetary Fund (World Economic Outlook Database, April 2007).

For a list of source materials complete with links to the most current information on country-specific GDP, trade partners, imports and exports, visit our International Trade website often.