Africa’s GDP is rising. Why isn’t your life?
⏱️ 1.5 min read. Yes we promise.
GDP is the world’s most misleading success story.
Africa's economies grew 3.7% in 2024 but inflation hit 12.3%.
You've seen the headlines, “Africa's fastest growing economies”. Maybe you felt something— pride, curiosity, even confusion. Because your salary went up. But so did your rent. Your groceries. Your transport.
If GDP is rising, why aren't you?
Hint: It's not you.
GDP isn’t about you. It never was.
Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire’s first president and Ronald Reagan, US President shaking hands over a “financial recovery” program backed by IMF. (circa 1983/1984).
GDP is an economic indicator — a way to measure what a country produces. Not whether you can afford to live in it.
The higher your GDP, the more 'creditworthy' you become.
The IMF, World Bank, and international investors treat GDP like a backstage pass.
High numbers open doors to loans, aid and foreign investment.
But when the scorecard becomes the goal, and creditworthiness determines access to loans - governments start playing the game.
Nigeria’s economy grew by 89% overnight.
The N20 note was the first note to have a portrait of a national hero - the late General Murtala Mohammed.
Take Nigeria. In 2014, it rebased its GDP. Overnight, the economy 'grew' 89%. Nigeria became Africa's largest economy.
The IMF approved.
Investors cheered.
Ten years later, in 2024, it happened again.
Another rebasing, another 34% jump.
On paper, GDP rose from $188 billion to $243 billion.
But for the danfo driver?
Fuel prices are still climbing.
For everyday Nigerians? 767 factories closed in 2023 alone.
And a basket of tomatoes costs what a meal used to.
The spreadsheet changed.
The struggle didn't.
Moving ‘Beyond GDP’ to metrics that make sense for Africa
We were always high class. West Africa, 1960s.
Some countries have stopped pretending. They're measuring what matters. It’s part of a growing ‘beyond GDP’ movement across Africa.
In Rwanda, Imihigo—a cultural practice—makes public officials deliver on what they promise. Break your Imihigo and you face community shame.
The result?
Better-equipped schools, clean water, access to medicines in clinics.
Success is tracked by reality—not expectation. So when medicine access drops, budgets shift. When inequality rises, policy follows.
Now imagine if every African country did that.
GDP would stop being a scorecard for the wrong game.
What happens when you stop counting numbers - and count people?
Only one of them has not been assasinated.
Instead of celebrating GDP growth, presidents would announce:
'Maternal mortality dropped 15%.
Youth unemployment fell to 18%.
Air quality in Kigali improved 10%.'
That's not just different metrics.
That's different priorities.
Different politics.
Different lives.
Maybe that's the paradox of African economies:
we're rich on paper,
poor in practice.
Not by accident—by design. A design built for Washington, not for us.
It’s time we counted what counts.
This article was informed by conversations with Rashid Abubakar, who asks better questions about Africa. He is the founder of a Nairobi based think-tank thats solving for African sovereignty.
