50 Things You Didn’t Know About Africa

By SHADRACK LAANOI
Published: December 18th, 2008

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The economies of South Africa and Nigeria comprised 56% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA’s) GDP.
In Liberia, nearly almost no one has internet access (0.03 per 100); there are 34 in every 100 people in Seychelles.
It takes 7 days to start a business in Madagascar and Mauritius, and 233 days in Guinea Bissau.
Nigeria has the largest population (145 million); Seychelles has the smallest (0.1 million).
South Africa has 84 mobile phones per 100 people; Ethiopia has 1 per 100 people.
17.5 per 100 people are mobile telephone subscribers in SSA, while 1.6 per 100 are fixed line subscribers.
Uganda has the highest dependency ratio (ratio of people younger than 15 or older than 64 to the working age population) (1.1); Mauritius has the lowest (0.4).
Before the age of 24, most female youth have already been married, but in many countries they get married even earlier: In Mozambique, 47% of females were already married before the age of 19; in Chad 49%; in Guinea, 46%; in Mali, 50%; in Sierra Leone, 46%; and in Niger, 62%.
Parenthood starts very early. In 2003 in Mozambique, 58% of females in the age range of 15–24 had already given birth at least once, and 18% of males at this age were fathers. These figures are respectively 57% and 17% in Malawi (2004); 57% and 7% in Niger (2006); 53% and 10% in Chad (2004); 47% and 15% in Uganda (2006); and 47% and 17% in Gabon (2000).
Since 2000 Rwanda has made the greatest gains in life expectancy—about 5 years; in Lesotho life expectancy has decreased by about 6 years.
In Sierra Leone 2,000 women die for every 100,000 live births; in Mauritius 15 die per 100,000 live births.
Youth make up 36.9% of the working-age population, but 59.5% of the total unemployed, which is much higher than the world’s average for 2005 (43.7%)
Guinea Bissau has the highest fertility rate (births per women) (7.1); Mauritius and Seychelles have the lowest (2.0).