It is not always easy to rank the wealth of countries. After all, there are so many things that we have to take into consideration. We have to factor in commerce, socioeconomic status, economic shift, colonialism, government corruption, poverty, and more. Africa has 1.33 billion inhabitants spread across 54 countries. The continent has a nominal GDP of $2.2 trillion from several industries. In 2013, it was the fastest-growing continent with a rate of 5.6% per year! Let us find out which countries are faring better or worse. The data used in the article come from the latest reports of the World Bank.
Angola
With its $124.6 billion total GDP and $4,101 GDP per capita, Angola is the fifth richest country on the African continent. Its economy relies on the natural oil and gas reserves in the region, but agriculture, diamonds, and hydroelectricity make up a huge part of it as well. It has 32.9 million inhabitants. Thanks to Portuguese colonialism, the local culture has European influences. In fact, Portuguese is still the official language! President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço focused on making the country less dependent on oil. This seems to be paying off as various sectors are showing improvements.
South Sudan
As a nation with an underdeveloped and weak economy, South Sudan is among the poorest African countries. The country has a population of 11.2 million, but only 24% of the inhabitants are literate. It will take some time before this problem is resolved. Its current GDP is $3.15 billion, whereas the GDP per capita stands at $235.52. Sadly, local conditions remain problematic. Many of the populated areas are still plagued with problems such as lack of both electricity and potable water.