ACCRA, Ghana, June 9, 2026/APO Group/ —
Africans’ ratings of their government’s performance on key economic issues have improved since the COVID-19 years, but they still remain overwhelmingly negative, the latest Afrobarometer Pan-Africa Profile (https://apo-opa.co/4exarrf) shows.
Although perceptions of economic conditions have shown modest improvement in recent years, they remain more negative than they were a decade ago. About half citizens describe their personal living circumstances as bad.
The new report, based on 50,961 interviews across 38 African countries in 2024/2025, shows that unemployment and the increasing cost of living rank high among the most important problems that citizens want their government to address.
The report also highlights widespread deprivation: Majorities of Africans say they or a family member went without basic necessities such as a cash income, medical care, clean water, food, and cooking fuel at least once during the previous year.
Key findings
- Large majorities say their government is performing “fairly badly” or “very badly” on keeping prices stable (82%), narrowing gaps between rich and poor (79%), creating jobs (76%), improving the living standards of the poor (73%), and managing the overall economy (64%) (Figure 1).
- Despite overwhelmingly negative performance ratings, tracking 28 countries between 2014 and 2025 reveals a modest turnaround on all five indicators in the most recent survey round (Figure 2).
- Six in 10 Africans (59%) describe their country’s economic condition as “fairly bad” or “very bad” (Figure 3).
- About half (49%) of Africans say their personal living conditions are “fairly bad” or “very bad.”
- On average across 28 countries surveyed consistently since 2014, the share of respondents who describe their national economy as “fairly bad” or “very bad” has decreased by 7 percentage points compared to 2021/2023, though it remains 6 points higher than a decade ago (Figure 4).
- Unemployment ranks second among the most important problems that citizens say their governments should address, cited by 33% of respondents as one of their three priorities, behind only health (38%) (Figure 5).
- The increasing cost of living ranks joint-third (mentioned by 23% as a top priority), while poverty (10%), management of the economy (8%), and wages (5%) also place highly on citizens’ agenda.
- Material deprivation remains widespread across the continent, with majorities reporting shortages of essential goods during the previous year, including a cash income (79%), medical care (65%), food (58%), clean water (57%), and cooking fuel (52%) (Figure 6).
Afrobarometer surveys
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, nonpartisan survey research network that provides reliable data on African experiences and evaluations of democracy, governance, and quality of life. Ten survey rounds in up to 45 countries have been completed since 1999. Round 10 surveys (2024/2025) cover 38 countries.
Afrobarometer’s National Partners conduct face-to-face interviews with nationally representative samples of adults in the language of the respondent’s choice that yield country-level results with margins of error of +/-2 to +/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
