African LDCs account for only 1.3% of Global Manufacturing

Despite comprising 15%  of total land area and nearly 14% of the world population, the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in Africa account for only 1.3% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 1.2% of industry value added and 1.0% of Manufacturing Value Added (MVA). According to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) 2022 edition of its ‘International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics. In 2022, 46 countries are classified as LDCs. They are located all over the world, but are mostly found on the African continent. In fact, 33 LDCs are located in Africa, 9 in Asia, 3 in Oceania and 1 in the Americas. LDCs account for 1.08bn of the world’s population and a combined GDP of $1.16tn.

However, that being said, according to a new report from the African Development Bank, the African Union and the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), 37 of 52 African countries have become more industrialized over the past 11 years. The Africa Industrialization Index (AII) report provides a country-level assessment of 52 African countries’ progress across 19 key indicators. SA maintained a very high ranking throughout the 2010-2021 period, followed closely by Morocco, which held second place in 2022. Rounding out the top 6 over the period are Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritius, and Eswatini.