Economy · Africa ranking
Government Spending (% of GDP) by African country
Lesotho has the highest general government expenditure as a share of GDP of any African country, at 53.5% — 1.3× Namibia's 39.9%.
General government total expenditure as a share of GDP. 37 of 54 countries, ranked · IMF MACRO FINANCIAL, 2024.
Lesotho
Namibia
AlgeriaBy region
Full ranking
| # | Country | Government Spending (% of GDP) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lesotho | 53.5% | |
| 2 | Namibia | 39.9% | |
| 3 | Algeria | 36.8% | |
| 4 | Tunisia | 33.8% | |
| 5 | Seychelles | 33.8% | |
| 6 | Senegal | 33.5% | |
| 7 | Mozambique | 33.2% | |
| 8 | Morocco | 33% | |
| 9 | South Africa | 33% | |
| 10 | Eswatini | 32.8% | |
| 11 | Rwanda | 28.8% | |
| 12 | Burkina Faso | 27.8% | |
| 13 | Togo | 26.4% | |
| 14 | Cabo Verde | 26.1% | |
| 15 | Gabon | 24.8% | |
| 16 | Kenya | 23.3% | |
| 17 | Ghana | 23.2% | |
| 18 | Burundi | 22.3% | |
| 19 | Republic of the Congo | 21.7% | |
| 20 | Djibouti | 20.6% | |
| 21 | Guinea | 20.6% | |
| 22 | Cote d'Ivoire | 20.4% | |
| 23 | Guinea-Bissau | 20.4% | |
| 24 | Central African Republic | 19.5% | |
| 25 | Comoros | 19.1% | |
| 26 | Tanzania | 19.1% | |
| 27 | Chad | 18.8% | |
| 28 | Uganda | 18.7% | |
| 29 | Equatorial Guinea | 18.5% | |
| 30 | Angola | 18.4% | |
| 31 | Benin | 18.1% | |
| 32 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 16.7% | |
| 33 | Madagascar | 16.2% | |
| 34 | Niger | 13.4% | |
| 35 | Nigeria | 12.3% | |
| 36 | Ethiopia | 9.5% | |
| 37 | Sudan | 6.4% |
Tunisia
Seychelles
Senegal
Mozambique
Morocco
South Africa
Eswatini
Rwanda
Burkina Faso
Togo
Cabo Verde
Gabon
Kenya
Ghana
Burundi
Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Guinea
Cote d'Ivoire
Guinea-Bissau
Central African Republic
Comoros
Tanzania
Chad
Uganda
Equatorial Guinea
Angola
Benin
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Madagascar
Niger
Nigeria
Ethiopia
SudanGet this ranking via API
One call to /v1/data returns the latest Government Spending (% of GDP) figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=government_expenditure_pct_gdp&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"Cite or republish this ranking
Data: Africa API — IMF MACRO FINANCIAL, 2024. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.
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Frequently asked questions
Which African country has the highest general government expenditure as a share of GDP?
Lesotho has the highest general government expenditure as a share of GDP in Africa at 53.5% (2024), followed by Namibia and Algeria.
Which African country has the lowest general government expenditure as a share of GDP?
Sudan has the lowest general government expenditure as a share of GDP of the 37 African countries with data, at 6.4% (2024).
How many African countries report Government Spending (% of GDP) data?
37 of 54 African countries have a Government Spending (% of GDP) figure in the Africa API, each from the latest year available for that country (which can differ between countries). Every value links to its full series with source and history.
How do I get this ranking via API?
Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=government_expenditure_pct_gdp&latest=true with the country codes you need and a free Africa API key — the response returns the latest value per country as JSON.
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