Over half of the nations in Africa are considered the poorest countries in the world. Even though the continent as a whole is developing quickly, there are many nations that aren’t showing economic growth. Economic insecurity, political instability, and wars within these nations have left many of Africa’s citizens living a life of poverty.
One of the factors used to determine the richest and poorest countries in the world is by taking a look at each nation’s gross domestic product per capita. This measures the purchasing power of each nation in the international market and is a good indicator to use for determining how rich (or in this case, poor) a country is.
Based on the numbers from 2017, Somalia has the lowest GDP per capita. It is ranked last at number 54 in Africa and is ranked 188th in the world.
The second poorest country in Africa is Central African Republic. Not only is it one of the poorest nations in Africa, but it is also one of the poorest in the world. The third poorest country in Africa is the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The top 10 poorest countries in Africa based on GDP per capital are as follows:
- Somalia
- Central African Republic
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Burundi
- Liberia
- Niger
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- Eritrea
- Madagascar
| Flag | Name | Area | Population 2019 | Growth Rate |
 | Mozambique | 801,590 km² | 31,408,823 | 2.88% |
 | Madagascar | 587,041 km² | 26,969,642 | 2.69% |
 | Niger | 1,267,000 km² | 23,176,691 | 3.88% |
 | Malawi | 118,484 km² | 19,718,743 | 2.89% |
 | Somalia | 637,657 km² | 15,636,171 | 2.99% |
 | Burundi | 27,834 km² | 11,575,964 | 3.21% |
 | Eritrea | 117,600 km² | 5,309,659 | 2.35% |
 | Liberia | 111,369 km² | 4,977,720 | 2.56% |
 | Central African Republic | 622,984 km² | 4,825,711 | 1.86 |