The latest report by the African Economic Outlook for 2021 confirmed the figures earlier released by the Human Development Index.
According to the African Economic Outlook publishers, this year’s report focuses on debt resolution, governance, rehabilitation, and growth after the first wave of the Covid–19 pandemic.
Established in 2002, the African Economic Outlook is published by the OECD Development Centre, the African Development Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
It is important to note that the ranking was made with significant emphasis on African countries’ rehabilitation and growth performance amid the COVID–19 pandemic.
The report also takes stock of the challenges in the current global architecture for debt resolution as it affects Africa and explores the link between governance and growth, emphasizing proposed reforms to improve the processes of debt resolution, governance, and sustainable growth.
Contrary to the reports by many socio-political analysts at the beginning of the pandemic, new reports indicate that the continent is projected to recover in 2021 from its worst economic recession in half a century.
GDP in Africa is projected to grow by 3.4 percent in 2021, after contracting by 2.1 percent in 2020. This projected recovery from the worst recession in more than half a century will be underpinned by a resumption of tourism, a rebound in commodity prices, and the rollback of pandemic-induced restrictions. The outlook is, however, subject to great uncertainty from both external and domestic risks.
To compile this ranking, we have compared different credible rankings, including the United Nations Development Program report.
Every year, the United Nations Development Program releases a report that outlines indices and indicators of human development. The report gives an overview of the state of development worldwide and identifies improvements in nations, including developing or developed nations.
To determine if a country is developed, the United Nations Development Program uses the Human Development Index (HDI).
HDI is quantified by looking at a country’s human development, such as healthcare, education, and life expectancy. HDI is set on a scale that ranges from 0 to 1, with four different classifications of low human development (0-.55), medium human development (.55-.70), high human development (.70-80), and very high human development (.80-1.0).
Most developed countries have a score of at least .80 and are considered “very high human development.” One of Africa’s 54 countries is considered to have “very high human development:” Seychelles.
Seven others, Seychelles (.801), Mauritius (.796), Algeria (.759), Tunisia (.739), Botswana (.728), Libya (.708), Gabon (.702), have “high human development”.
Seychelles is Africa’s most developed country with an HDI of .801, just making the “very high human development” threshold. Seychelles is ranked 62 in HDI rankings and has a life expectancy of 73.7 years.
The country’s economic growth is mainly driven by tourism, and the GDP has increased nearly sevenfold since 1976. Algeria has an HDI score of .759 and is the third most developed country in Africa. Algeria currently has the highest life expectancy of all African countries of 76.3 years.
