How AfroAtlas country data works

World Bank economy and development observations

The dated indicators come from World Development Indicators, retrieved through the World Bank Indicators API. AfroAtlas covers 54 African country profiles and 20 world reference countries in comparisons.

Snapshot retrieved on 2026-09-28. The observation window is 2016–2025. Each indicator keeps its latest available observation and the annual series.

Retrieval date means when this snapshot was downloaded. It is different from the year measured. Provider revisions can change historical observations. This is a stored snapshot, and browsing the app does not refresh World Bank data.

Comparison and ranking rules

Comparisons use the latest year that both countries report for each indicator. GDP and internet use may therefore use different shared years. The latest-observation option shows each country's most recent figure and warns when dates differ. No numerical difference is presented for unmatched years or missing observations.

Rankings offer the latest observation per country or one selected year. Latest observations can mix years; a selected-year table excludes countries without that year's value. N/A is not zero. Negative real growth remains valid and is not discarded.

Higher values are not an overall country score. There is no investment, relocation or development ranking derived by combining these indicators.

What the measures do and do not mean

GDP, GDP per person and trade totals use current US dollars. They are affected by exchange rates and national accounts revisions and are not adjusted for purchasing power. GDP per person is not personal income, a wage, or a cost-of-living estimate.

Real GDP growth is an annual percentage change measured after price changes. Electricity access and internet use are shares of the population; they do not measure speed, affordability or reliability at a particular location. Life expectancy is an average number of years at birth.

Exports and imports include goods and services. They can differ from goods-only customs data and should not be used to validate an undated product breakdown.

Resource and trade product references

Natural resource names and product lists are retained from the older AfroAtlas reference dataset. They lack verified observation dates. Current production amounts, percentage shares, resource scores and rankings from that dataset are not presented as dated statistics in this research experience.

For verification, use UN Comtrade, World Integrated Trade Solution, USGS international mineral statistics, and the relevant national statistics agency. These are further research paths; their observations have not been added to the reference lists.

Briefs, downloads and privacy

CSV downloads retain indicator name, unit, observation year, source URL and snapshot retrieval date. Comparisons export the observations shown on screen. Country and shortlist downloads contain the nine latest observations, including explicit gaps.

Briefs are assembled locally from this snapshot and a research checklist. They are not AI-generated advice. Optional notes remain in the current page and are included only when you copy or download the brief; notes are not sent to analytics. Shortlists save country codes in this browser and can be cleared.

Privacy-aware product measurement may record country codes, workflow actions, export format and count. Research notes and raw search text are not included in these product events.

Flag artwork

Locally hosted country flags use Twemoji 17.0.3 graphics by Twitter, Inc. and other contributors, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Artwork is redistributed without modification; the original graphics license is included with the assets.