Have you ever thought about which are the most powerful countries in Africa?
Every time Africa is mentioned in the news, there is always a correlation with its poverty. It is the world’s second-largest continent, but also known as the poorest one. Africa has the population of 877 million people out of which 130 million lives in Nigeria, and 71 million in Egypt. This continent has a growing issue of malnutrition, hunger, diseases and lack of basic human needs, not to talk about the rights. However, many African countries are very wealthy in natural resources. For example, Sudan and Nigeria are its two leading oil producers. Botswana, Congo (Kinshasa), South Africa and Angola together make 46% of the world’s key production of diamonds. Moreover, Ghana, Tanzania, and Mali are known to be rich in gold. If you are keen to find out more about developed countries of Africa, we advise you to take a look at the most economically developed countries in Africa.
But, natural resources aren’t the only beautiful thing in this country – if you don’t believe us check our piece on 10 Countries With The Most Beautiful Women in Africa. As we can see, African countries have a lot to offer, but we shouldn’t forget that most of them were colonies, so their exploitation influenced their poverty. Not to mention other problems such as extremely high temperatures that result in water scarcity. So, out of the total number of 53, we wondered which are the most influential countries in Africa?
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Lots of things could be understood as influence or power of one country or in this case, continent. However, when thinking about influence and power of one country what the first thing that comes to your mind is? In my case, it would be the military force. The strongest military in Africa in 2017, according to Global Fire Power Index, belongs to Egypt. However, when searching for the strongest military in Africa, Nairaland, African online community, provided us with a rather different answer. They targeted Nigeria to be the strongest military in Africa, because of the number of people that can be mobilized into a fighting force. However, if we look at the regions of Africa, strongest military in East Africa is considered to be Kenya’s, according to The East African. As you are probably familiar with, the military force consists of an Army, Navy, Air Force, and in some countries the Marines and Coast Guard. Therefore, we searched for Africa’s best forces in all fields. What we found out is that North Africa has the best air force, and especially Morocco, as suggested by the African Globe. The best navy in Africa can be found in South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Morocco. Even though we haven’t found results for the best Army force on this continent, we came upon Recces, South African special forces brigade, which is also widely known in the whole Africa. It is their primary special operation unit and counter-insurgency elite.
To create our list of most powerful countries in Africa, we first took a suggestion from earlier mentioned Global Fire Power list that ranks strongest military countries in this continent by including all previously mentioned forces. However, we started thinking a bit more widely on this topic. As we live in the era of globalization, one of the most powerful things in that sense is interconnection and openness between countries. Commerce, as just one of the examples, is highly depended on the good relations between different nations. Therefore, for the second measurement of power, we took Africa’s most powerful passports, according to the Global Passport Power Ranking. We contrasted countries from the list of the strongest military countries with the countries with the highest passport index. In addition, we summed the numbers from these two rankings, then divided them by two. What we got was the average of these figures for each country. We named that value “power index” in the following list. The bigger is the number; the less power has the given country. So let’s see which countries made it to our list of the most powerful countries in Africa!
8. Libya
Power index: 9
Out of total population of around 6.5 million people, Libya has 3.5 million of available workforce and 3 million that are fit for the service. However, total military personnel is 100,000. Total aircraft power is 121, while there are only five naval assets and four major ports. Libya is rich in petroleum, and it is considered as its primary natural resource. On the passport ranking, out of 199 countries and territories, Libya is 87.
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8. Sudan
Power index: 9
At number 8 on our list of the most powerful countries in Africa we have the Sudan with a population of approximately 36 million. Around 13 million is fit for military service, while there is only 177,150 of active military personnel. There is in total 181 aircraft, out of which 70 are helicopters. There are 18 navy assets, what makes Sudan more powerful than previously mentioned Libya. However, what the two countries have in common is its primary natural resource – petroleum. According to the global passport ranking, Sudan’s passport is in the 89th position.
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7. DR Congo
Power index: 8.5
DR Congo has a population of 81 million people. However, only 16 million are available workforce out of which only a little bit over million are men who reached military age. Their aircraft strength is showed in 41 aircraft out of which more than half are helicopters. There are 200 combat tanks and 20 naval assets. DR Congo is extremely rich in almost every type of minerals, but its corruption and slavery drove the people of this country to starvation. Its position on the global passport ranking is 83, while its visa-free score is 45.
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6. Ethiopia
Power index: 5.5
Workforce available in Ethiopia is 40 million people out of the total population of 102 million. Although it is known as one of the poorest countries in Africa, it is however among the most powerful countries in Africa considering its military strength. They have 80 aircraft, 800 combat tanks, but no naval assets. The labor force is considered to be around 50 million people. Ethiopian passport is 85th in the global ranking with 39 visa-free scores.
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5. Angola
Power index: 5
The total population of Angola is more than 20 million. Out of that number, only 6 million are considered to be available as workforce and only half of it are fit for the service. Angola has 285 available aircraft, out of which the most numerous are transport aircraft (128). There are 244 combat tanks and 115 rocket projectors. In contrast to Ethiopia which has none, Angola has 57 naval assets. Moreover, its passport ranking is 79 with 47 visa-free scores.
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5. Nigeria
Power index: 5
We’re halway through our list of the most powerful countries in Africa, and next in line is Nigeria that has around 186 million people. Less than half are considered as the available workforce, while there are only 181,000 of military personnel. It has a total of 110 aircraft and 148 combat tanks. Moreover, there are 75 naval assets in this country and three major ports. The labor force is counted around 58 million people. Nigeria is ranked 81st on the global passport ranking out of 199 countries in total. It has 45 visa-free scores.
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4. Morocco
Power index: 4.5
One of the most popular travel destinations in Africa is also very powerful when it comes to military strength. Morocco has 17 million available workforce out of more than 33 million of the total population. In addition, 14 million are completely fit for the service. Moreover, its air force is counted in 278 aircraft, out of which the most are helicopters and transport aircraft. This country has by far the biggest number of combat tanks – 1276! Total naval assets are 121, and there are five major ports. Passport ranking is 69 with 58 visa-free scores.
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3. Algeria
Power index: 3.5
Algeria has the total population of 40 million people. Half of that number is available workforce, while around 17 million is fit for the service. Military personnel in total is 792,350. This country is incredibly rich in air force counting 502 aircraft! Besides many helicopters and transport aircraft, there are 99 attack aircraft. Moreover, the number of combat tanks is not for underestimation – there are 2405 of them! Total naval assets are 85 with nine major ports. Passport ranking of Algeria is 80 with 46 visa-free scores. Definitely deserves to be among the most powerful countries in Africa, right?
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2. South Africa
Power index: 3
One of the richest countries in Africa is South Africa. There are more than 54 million people out of which 26 million represents available workforce. Moreover, there are 94,050 military personnel and 965,000 who reached military age. South Africa has 231 aircraft and 195 combat tanks. Its total naval assets are 30 with five major ports. Its passport is ranked 54th on the list of the global passport ranking with the biggest number of visa-free scores (93).
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1. Egypt
Power index: 2
On the top of our list of the most powerful countries in Africa is Egypt. With the population of more than 94 million, 42 million are considered to be available workforce. However, out of it, 35 million are fit for service, and only around 1 million has reached military age. Egypt is very rich in the air force as it has 1132 aircraft. In contrast to other countries, it has the most attack aircraft (427). Egypt owns even 4110 combat tanks! Moreover, there are 319 naval assets, out of which 5 are submarines and seven major ports. Passport raking for this country is 77 with 50 visa-free scores.
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