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Economy · Africa ranking

Natural Resource Rents by African country

61%Libya leads · 2021

Libya has the highest total natural resource rents as a share of GDP of any African country, at 61% — 1.6× Democratic Republic of the Congo's 38.8%.

Sum of oil, gas, coal, mineral and forest rents as a share of GDP — a measure of dependence on extractive resources. 54 of 54 countries, ranked · World Bank — World Development Indicators, 2021.

#1 vs #5422478×Libya vs Mauritius
Median7.3%South Africa
Lowest0%Mauritius

By region

regional average
Central Africa20.8%
9 countries · led by Democratic Republic of the Congo
North Africa17.4%
6 countries · led by Libya
West Africa10.3%
16 countries · led by Liberia
Southern Africa8.8%
7 countries · led by Zambia
East Africa7.3%
16 countries · led by Eritrea

Full ranking

54 of 54 countries
#CountryNatural Resource RentsPeriod
1Libya
61%2021
2Democratic Republic of the Congo
38.8%2021
3Republic of the Congo
37.7%2021
4Zambia
35.3%2021
5Angola
30%2021
6Eritrea
27%2011
7Equatorial Guinea
23.5%2021
8Algeria
22.6%2021
9Liberia
21.9%2021
10Chad
21.3%2021
11Burkina Faso
20.1%2021
12Gabon
18.5%2021
13Mali
18.4%2021
14Cabo Verde
17.7%2021
15Mozambique
14.9%2021
16Burundi
14%2021
17Ghana
13.3%2021
18South Sudan
13.1%2015
19Sudan
12.8%2021
20Mauritania
11.4%2021
21Somalia
11.2%2021
22Guinea-Bissau
10.4%2021
23Central African Republic
10.3%2021
24Sierra Leone
9%2021
25Nigeria
8.6%2021
26Togo
7.9%2021
27Uganda
7.5%2021
28South Africa
7.3%2021
29Tanzania
6.7%2021
30Niger
6.4%2021
31Zimbabwe
6.4%2021
32Ethiopia
5.9%2021
33Madagascar
5.5%2021
34Cameroon
5.5%2021
35Egypt
5.1%2021
36Cote d'Ivoire
4.7%2021
37Guinea
4.5%2021
38Senegal
4.4%2021
39Lesotho
4.3%2021
40Malawi
4.2%2021
41Namibia
4%2021
42Rwanda
4%2021
43Eswatini
3%2021
44Gambia
2.9%2021
45Benin
2.3%2021
46Tunisia
2.2%2021
47Sao Tome and Principe
1.9%2021
48Comoros
1.6%2021
49Kenya
1.2%2021
50Botswana
1%2021
51Morocco
0.4%2021
52Djibouti
0.3%2021
53Seychelles
0.1%2021
54Mauritius
0%2021

Get this ranking via API

GET /v1/data

One call to /v1/data returns the latest Natural Resource Rents figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.

curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=total_natural_resource_rents_pct_gdp&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"

Cite or republish this ranking

Data: Africa APIWorld Bank — World Development Indicators, 2021. Free to republish with a link to this page. Pull the live figures via the API above so your version never goes stale.

Embed this ranking

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Drop this chart into your article or site — it stays live as the data updates. Paste the snippet anywhere HTML is allowed (a citation link is included).

<iframe src="https://africa-api.com/embed/natural-resource-rents" width="100%" height="560" loading="lazy" style="border:1px solid #e3e3e3;border-radius:10px;max-width:640px" title="Natural Resource Rents by African country — Africa API"></iframe>
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Frequently asked questions

Which African country has the highest total natural resource rents as a share of GDP?

Libya has the highest total natural resource rents as a share of GDP in Africa at 61% (2021), followed by Democratic Republic of the Congo and Republic of the Congo.

Which African country has the lowest total natural resource rents as a share of GDP?

Mauritius has the lowest total natural resource rents as a share of GDP of the 54 African countries with data, at 0% (2021).

How many African countries report Natural Resource Rents data?

54 of 54 African countries have a recent Natural Resource Rents figure in the Africa API. Each value links to the country's full series with source and history.

How do I get this ranking via API?

Call GET /v1/data?metric_key=total_natural_resource_rents_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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