Download FACT SHEET: Regions in Africa - South African Government Online

FACT SHEET: Regions in Africa
West Africa
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340, 000,000 million people
West Africa has been defined as including the 18 countries Benin, Burkina Faso, the island
of Cape Verde, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, the island of Saint Helena, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sao Tome
and Principe and Togo.
Total GDP $ 655.93485 Billion
Total GDP per capita 1,929.22
INDUSTRY
 West Africa is the world’s largest producer of cocoa – in fact, around 80 percent of the
chocolate consumed in the United States is made from cocoa beans cultivated in Côte
d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, or Cameroon.
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In addition, many West African nations are exporters of coffee, so the morning brew you
enjoy might contain beans from places like Togo, Guinea, or Benin.
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Ten countries claim more than 90 percent of world cocoa production, and four of those
countries are in West Africa: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon.
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West Africa’s top coffee producers are: Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Guinea, Togo, Central
African Republic, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, Congo, and
Liberia.
Northern Africa
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198,996,526 million people
Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mali,
Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia. Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and often Mauritania and
Western Sahara are the Maghreb, while Egypt and Sudan comprise the Nile Valley (so
named after the Nile River, which has two tributaries; the White Nile and Blue Nile).
Total GDP $1.189 trillion
Total GDP per capita $5,974
INDUSTRY
 The economies of Algeria, Libya, and Sudan were transformed by the discovery of oil and
natural gas reserves in the deserts.
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Morocco's major exports are phosphates and agricultural produce, and as in Egypt and
Tunisia, the tourist industry is essential to the economy.
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Egypt has the most varied industrial base, importing technology to develop electronics
and engineering industries, and maintaining the reputation of its high-quality cotton
textiles.
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Oil rigs are scattered throughout the deserts of Libya, Algeria and Sudan. Libyan oil is
especially prized because of its low sulphur content, which means it produces much less
pollution than other fuel oils.
East Africa
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290,000,000 million people
East Africa has been defined as including the 11 countries Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mayotte, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda
Total GDP $134.9 billion
Total GDP per capita $4.4500
INDUSTRY
 Agriculture employs more than 60% of the population in East Africa. Agriculture accounts
for almost 30% of GDP in East African countries.
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The integration of regional markets in East Africa opens opportunities to balance regional
supply and demand, opening up opportunities and incentives to increase
Southern Africa
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277,125,853 million people
Southern Africa has been defined as including the 16 countries Angola, Botswana,
Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique,
Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Senegal, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Total GDP $1.193 billion
Total GDP per capita $4,309
INDUSTRY
 In terms of natural resources, the region has the world's largest resources of platinum and
the platinum group elements, chromium, vanadium, and cobalt, as well as uranium, gold,
titanium, iron and diamonds.
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Major industries include petroleum, diamonds, gold, uranium, iron ore, feldspar, bauxite,
phosphates, cement, basic metal products, ship repair, textiles, brewing, tobacco
products, fish processing, food processing and sugar.
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Main export items to the rest of the world consist of predominantly export of resources
(e.g. coal, ferrochromium, manganese ores, platinum, as well as precious metals and
diamonds), resource intensive manufactured goods, mainly for the automotive industry,
some clothing and textiles, and tobacco.
Central Africa
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112,417,421 million people.
Central Africa has been defined as including 8 countries namely, Cameroon, Central
African Republic, Chad, Congo (Brazzaville), Congo, Democratic Republic of the,
Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe.
Central Africa, compared to the other four geographic regions in the continent, makes up
a small proportion of Africa’s economy: 5.2 percent of total gross domestic product (GDP)
and 5.3 percent of total agricultural GDP on average in 2003–2013.
Total GDP $1.688 billion
Total GDP per capita $785
The Central African Republic and Sao Tome and Principe account for the smallest portions
of the region’s GDP.
In terms of agriculture, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon account for
the majority of the region’s agricultural GDP.
INDUSTRY
 Within Central Africa, Cameroon makes up the largest share of the region’s GDP, followed
by Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Equatorial Guinea.
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The vast bulk of the population engages in subsistence farming and 55% of the country's
GDP arises from agriculture.
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Main industries include gold and diamond mining, logging, brewing, textiles, footwear,
assembly of bicycles and motorcycles
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Principal food crops include cassava, peanuts, sorghum, millet, maize, sesame, and
plantains. Principal cash crops for export include cotton, coffee, and tobacco. Timber has
accounted for about 16% of export earnings and the diamond industry for nearly 54%.
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Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe make up the smallest portion of the
region’s agriculture.
Socio-Economic Development
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Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mali,
Mozambique,
Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Tanzania are among the countries that made the greatest
strides in HDI improvement since 2000.
By 2050, aggregate HDI could rise by 52 percent in sub-Saharan Africa (from 0.402 to
0.612).
Over the past decade, nearly half of financing for infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa was
provided by governments and regional funds from elsewhere in the South.
There are large disparities in achievements within HDI groups and regions. This ratio is
highest in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by the Arab States. From 2003 to 2008—the five
years preceding the global financial crisis—income per capita in the region grew 5 percent
a year, more than twice the rate of the 1990s.
Though many countries in sub-Saharan Africa showed improvement in their Gender
Inequality Index value between 2000 and 2012, they still perform worse than countries in
other regions, mainly because of higher maternal mortality ratios, adolescent fertility
rates and huge gaps in educational attainment.
The spectacular increase in phone connectivity in Africa has been driven almost entirely
by companies based in India, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
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