Knowledge Base

Internet penetration in West Africa has grown from 2% in 2008 to over 42% in 2024, though stark divides remain between urban and rural areas. Using our infrastructure quality indicators, we map the digital divide across the region and identify key investment opportunities.

Cape Verde, Ghana, and Senegal lead in connectivity metrics, while Sahelian states lag significantly. The mobile revolution has leapfrogged traditional infrastructure, with mobile cellular subscriptions reaching 80+ per 100 people in several countries.

Using 6,300+ observations from the UN Human Development Index database, we analyze three decades of human development trends across West Africa. While all countries have shown improvement, the trajectory varies dramatically between coastal and Sahelian states.

Côte d'Ivoire leads with an HDI growth rate of 1.8% annually since 2000, driven by post-conflict reconstruction and economic diversification. Sahelian states face structural challenges including climate vulnerability, insecurity, and demographic pressure.

The 2023 BRICS expansion to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE marks a watershed moment for Global South economic architecture. For West Africa, this creates both opportunities and challenges as traditional trade relationships with the EU face new competition.

Our FDI flow analysis (28K+ World Bank observations) tracks the evolution of investment patterns. Chinese FDI into West Africa grew 340% between 2010-2023, while EU investment remained flat.

Foreign aid flows to Francophone West Africa have been declining as a share of GDP since 2015, even as absolute amounts remain significant. Using World Bank WDI data (65K+ observations), our analysis tracks the relationship between ODA receipts, tax revenue mobilization, and fiscal sovereignty across 16 countries.

Key finding: Countries with higher aid dependency show 23% lower domestic revenue mobilization, suggesting a structural displacement effect with profound implications for independent economic policy.

Since the wave of coups in Mali (2020), Burkina Faso (2022), and Niger (2023), the Sahel region has undergone a dramatic geopolitical realignment. The withdrawal of French forces and the pivot toward Russian security partnerships marks a fundamental shift in West Africa's security architecture.

Our analysis quantifies these shifts through 15+ indicators across military cooperation, trade flows, diplomatic alignment, and peacekeeping contributions. The data reveals a complex picture: while Russian presence expanded, its impact on actual security outcomes remains mixed.

Analysis of development finance flows to the Sahel region, examining concessional lending, FDI, and domestic resource mobilization strategies.

This study analyses how political coalitions shape regional trade agreements in West Africa, using a novel dataset of bilateral trade flows and political alignment scores.

Comparative analysis of 15 African countries.

Survey of ML methods in development research.

This article examines trade integration in ECOWAS.