Nine African countries double average incomes since 1990

Overview

Updated 2 hours ago

Mauritius, Egypt, Ghana, and six other African countries have more than doubled their average incomes since 1990. The group also includes Cabo Verde, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Mozambique.

In all nine, the share of people in extreme poverty and the child mortality rate fell alongside the gains. The wider picture is mixed: incomes declined in Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and Burundi over the same period. Growth is the main lever the world's poorest people have to escape poverty, and most of them live in Africa.

Why it matters

Africa holds most of the world's poorest people; whether incomes keep rising decides whether poverty keeps falling for more than a billion people.

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Key Indicators

African countries with doubled incomes since 1990

Mauritius, Egypt, Ghana, and six others more than doubled GDP per capita.

$7,360

Ghana's 2025 GDP per capita

Up from about $1,850 in 1990, measured in 2021 international dollars.

$28,770

Mauritius's 2025 GDP per capita

Highest among the nine; Egypt follows at $17,270 and Cabo Verde at $10,400.

African countries where incomes fell since 1990

Madagascar, Zimbabwe, and Burundi went backward over the same period.

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People Involved

Max Roser

Founder of Our World in Data

Director of Our World in Data, a research publication at the University of Oxford

Organizations Involved

Our World in Data

Research publication

Produced the income analysis

Nonprofit research publication tracking long-run global living standards.

HumanProgress.org

Research Project

Republished the income data

Cato Institute project that curates data on long-term improvements in human wellbeing.

Timeline

January 1990 September 2026

4 events Latest: Today

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September 2026
Human Progress spotlights the finding
Today Report

Human Progress reports that nine African countries doubled incomes since 1990, noting the mixed record across the continent.
Today
November 2024
Our World in Data publishes income analysis
Publication

The research site reports average incomes more than doubled in nine African countries since 1990, with poverty and child mortality falling in all of them.
November 28th, 2024
January 2000
Post-2000 growth accelerates
Trend

Ethiopia's economy is about $12 billion; most of the continent's GDP expansion over the 35-year window comes after 2000.
January 1st, 2000
January 1990
Baseline year for income data
Data baseline

Ghana's average income is about $1,850 in 2021 international dollars; the continent's GDP stands at roughly $546 billion.
January 1st, 1990

Scenarios

More African countries join the income-doubling club

Possible Resolves by End of 2030

Discussed by: Economists tracking Sub-Saharan growth, including World Bank country analysts

Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, and others sit near the threshold. If they keep growing at recent rates, updated data over the next several years could show them crossing the 2x mark too. Continued expansion in the nine also lifts regional trade partners.

Fiscal crises stall growth in some of the nine

Possible Resolves by Oct 15, 2027

Discussed by: Analysts covering Ghana's debt situation; IMF country program documents

Ghana already faces high inflation, currency depreciation, and heavy debt service, and the IMF runs programs in several of the nine nations. If debt payments crowd out investment, per-capita growth slows and some countries could lose ground against their 1990 baselines.

Poverty and child mortality keep falling as incomes rise

Likely Resolves by Q2 2028

Discussed by: World Bank poverty tracking; UNICEF health statistics

All nine countries saw extreme poverty and under-five mortality decline alongside rising incomes. If growth continues to convert into household gains, those downward trends should persist in the latest readings.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1966–present

Botswana's post-independence growth (1966–present)

On independence in 1966, Botswana was among the world's poorest countries. Diamond exports and generally prudent fiscal management fueled one of the fastest sustained growth records in history, averaging several percent annually for decades.

Then

Botswana reached middle-income status by the 1990s.

Now

It became Africa's longest-running counterexample to the continent's stagnation stereotype.

Why this matters now

Botswana shows sustained income growth is achievable on the African continent, the same lesson the nine countries now illustrate.

1978–2020

China's post-1978 reforms

Deng Xiaoping's market reforms opened China's economy after 1978. GDP per capita multiplied more than thirtyfold in four decades, and some 800 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty.

Then

China moved from low-income to upper-middle-income status.

Now

It produced the largest poverty reduction in human history.

Why this matters now

It demonstrates the scale of poverty reduction that sustained growth unlocks, which is the promise behind the African gains.

1960s–1990s

East Asian Tigers (1960s–1990s)

South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore moved from low-income to middle- and high-income economies in a single generation through export-led industrialization. South Korea's GDP per capita multiplied more than tenfold between 1960 and 2010.

Then

Hundreds of millions escaped poverty and the region became a global manufacturing hub.

Now

The Tigers remain the standard reference for sustained per-capita income doubling within a generation.

Why this matters now

The nine African countries are attempting the same kind of one-generation income doubling the Tigers achieved.