Regional Ranking:
Regional Analysis: Sub-Saharan Africa
Most sub-Saharan African countries rank among the lowest 30 of the Index. Indeed, eight of the bottom 10 countries are from this region. The best performing sub-Saharan African countries – Botswana, South Africa, Ghana, and Namibia – place higher, but still remain in the bottom half of the Index.
While the majority of countries in the region saw little change in their ranking between 2009 and 2011, Ghana and Rwanda improved by 11 and seven positions, respectively. This improvement occurred in almost all sub-indices, with the exception of Education, where both experienced a decline. Moving in the other direction were Botswana and Namibia, whose overall rankings dropped by eight and six positions, respectively.
All sub-Saharan African countries near the bottom of the Economy subindex have improved their position, due to improvements in capital per worker and market size. Those that placed higher in 2009 have, instead, seen their position decline, owing to a worsening of both income and wellbeing indicators. These declining countries include the three biggest economies in sub-Saharan Africa – South Africa, Nigeria and Sudan – and the region’s oft cited success story, Botswana. The worrying news is that the score the countries appear to be coalescing towards, approximately -1.5, is still among the 10 worst scores in the Economy sub-index. The exception to this seeming convergence are Mozambique and Mali, which moved in a clear upward direction, as shown in the graph.