Knowledge Base

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The distribution

The development: Sixteen countries; the median is $1,304 and the mean is $1,833.

What the evidence says: Flags identify countries; orange marks above the regional mean and teal marks below it.

Question to watch: Which countries set the range?

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• GDP per capita · 2025
• The distribution

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How countries compare with the regional mean

The development: current US$ · 2025 · Fixed class edges, so years can be compared directly.

What the evidence says: The median and mean answer different questions.

Question to watch: Why do the mean and median differ here?

Reading the GDP per capita map

The development: A national average cannot show income distribution within a country.

What the evidence says: Values are current US dollars per person for 2025. Fixed class edges support comparison across years; they do not measure household income or purchasing power.

Question to watch: Which country would you examine first?

GDP per capita

The development: current US$ · 2025 · Fixed class edges, so years can be compared directly.

What the evidence says: Cabo Verde leads at $5,796; Niger is lowest at $775 — a 7.5× gap.

Question to watch: Which contrast on the map deserves an explanation?

What GDP per capita leaves out

The development: current US$ · 2025 · Fixed class edges, so years can be compared directly.

What the evidence says: The 16-country mean is not population-weighted.

Question to watch: What does this comparison leave out?

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• West Africa GDP per capita · 2025
• How countries compare with the regional mean
• Reading the GDP per capita map
• GDP per capita
• What GDP per capita leaves out

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Unemployment by country · 2025

The development: Equal-count classes make relative positions easier to compare.

What the evidence says: National estimate; not a measure of job quality or informal employment.

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• Unemployment across West Africa
• Unemployment by country · 2025

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What the global aid estimate can—and cannot—tell us

The development: The global estimate signals scale; it cannot trace which West African programmes changed.

What the evidence says: ODA is measured across donors. Regional exposure requires recipient-level disbursement data; commitments and disbursements are different measures.

Question to watch: Which recipient-level changes are visible in final OECD data?

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• Global aid fell in 2025. What can the headline tell us?
• What the global aid estimate can—and cannot—tell us

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Electricity access varies.

The development: 16 / 16 countries · 2024

What the evidence says: Color encodes access rate, not policy success or cause.

Question to watch: Which countries share an access band?

Electricity access: two extremes.

The development: Niger 21.3% · Cabo Verde 98.4%

What the evidence says: 77.1 percentage-point range · 2024

Question to watch: What might explain the range without assuming a cause?

A national rate is not a local map.

The development: This figure describes the share of people with electricity access nationally. It cannot show which neighborhood or household is left out.

What the evidence says: Color encodes access rate, not policy success or cause.

Question to watch: What local evidence would test this national pattern?

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• Where electricity reaches
• Electricity access varies.
• Electricity access: two extremes.
• A national rate is not a local map.