The World Ahead Globe Icon
The World Ahead | Africa in 2025

Africa will have some of the fastest-growing economies in the world in 2025

Several fast-growing economies show that not everyone is having a lost decade

A view of Mzimbasi Street, Dar-es Salam, Tanzania
Tanzania risingPhotograph: Panos
|LUANDA

By John McDermott, Chief Africa correspondent, The Economist

To walk around Luanda, Angola’s capital, is to tour a graveyard of another era. Half-finished or empty skyscrapers loom over the sun-kissed corniche. Some of the bars along the beach are gaudy monuments to when the price of oil was consistently above $100 and the elites partied in sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest producer country. You can still see the odd bottle of Château Pétrus gathering dust on a supermarket shelf, a relic of a headier time.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2025 under the headline “A tale of two Africas”

Discover more

The World Ahead The World Ahead 2025

Ten business trends for 2025, and forecasts for 15 industries

A global round-up from The Economist Intelligence Unit

Illustration of power boats in the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China

The World Ahead The year ahead

Calendar 2025

Our selection of events taking place around the world


The World Ahead Superforecasters in 2025

What the “superforecasters” predict for major events in 2025

The experts at Good Judgment weigh in on the coming year


The World Ahead Obituary in 2025

The rings of Saturn will disappear in 2025

First observed by Galileo, this occurs twice every 29 years

The World Ahead By Invitation: Science & technology in 2025

Casey Handmer says solar power is changing the economics of energy

Large-scale production of synthetic fuel is now feasible, argues the founder of Terraform Industries

The World Ahead Science & technology in 2025

Space missions to watch in 2025

Humans may fly around the Moon, and robots will explore new frontiers