Economy · Africa ranking
Youth Unemployment Rate by African country
Djibouti has the highest youth unemployment rate of any African country, at 72.7% — 1.2× South Africa's 60.1%.
Share of the labor force ages 15-24 that is unemployed (ILO modelled estimate). 23 of 54 countries, ranked · ILO ILOSTAT, 2025.
Latest available year varies by country (2023–2025). Only observations within 2 years of the freshest result are included, and each row shows its period.
Djibouti
South Africa
EswatiniBy region
Full ranking
| # | Country | Youth Unemployment Rate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Djibouti | 72.7% | |
| 2 | South Africa | 60.1% | |
| 3 | Eswatini | 54% | |
| 4 | Botswana | 45.2% | |
| 5 | Tunisia | 38.5% | |
| 6 | Gabon | 34.5% | |
| 7 | Lesotho | 31.1% | |
| 8 | Equatorial Guinea | 28.7% | |
| 9 | Zimbabwe | 22.4% | |
| 10 | Malawi | 19.2% | |
| 11 | Angola | 18.6% | |
| 12 | Mauritius | 15.6% | |
| 13 | Egypt | 15.3% | |
| 14 | Burkina Faso | 14% | |
| 15 | Gambia | 12.6% | |
| 16 | Zambia | 10.8% | |
| 17 | Mali | 10.5% | |
| 18 | Ghana | 10% | |
| 19 | Seychelles | 9.6% | |
| 20 | Rwanda | 8.6% | |
| 21 | Senegal | 7.6% | |
| 22 | Nigeria | 5.4% | |
| 23 | Tanzania | 4.7% |
Botswana
Tunisia
Gabon
Lesotho
Equatorial Guinea
Zimbabwe
Malawi
Angola
Mauritius
Egypt
Burkina Faso
Gambia
Zambia
Mali
Ghana
Seychelles
Rwanda
Senegal
Nigeria
TanzaniaGet this ranking via API
One call to /v1/data returns the latest Youth Unemployment Rate figure for every country you pass — JSON, with source metadata on each observation.
curl "https://api.africa-api.com/v1/data?metric_key=youth_unemployment_pct&latest=true&country_codes=NG,KE,ZA,EG" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $AFRICA_API_KEY"Cite or republish this ranking
Data: Africa API — ILO ILOSTAT, 2025. 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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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).
Frequently asked questions
Which African country has the highest youth unemployment rate?
Djibouti has the highest youth unemployment rate in Africa at 72.7% (2025), followed by South Africa and Eswatini.
Which African country has the lowest youth unemployment rate?
Tanzania has the lowest youth unemployment rate of the 23 African countries with data, at 4.7% (2024).
How many African countries report Youth Unemployment Rate data?
23 of 54 African countries have a Youth Unemployment Rate figure in the Africa API, each from the latest year available for that country (which can differ between countries, here 2023–2025). 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=youth_unemployment_pct&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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