Global auditing firm PwC has quantified and ranked Africa’s urban hubs in a new report listing the continent’s top “Cities of Opportunity,” CNN reports.
With young work forces and burgeoning higher education systems, African cities are booming. PwC ranked cities on 29 variables, assigning scores under four overall categories: infrastructure, human capital, economics, and society and demographics.
Just one city per country was assessed.
North Africa dominated the top five, with Cairo taking the No. 1 spot, followed by Tunis, Johannesburg, Casablanca and Algiers. Analysts said the age of North African cities was a determining factor, with strong infrastructure helping human capital to thrive.
Sub-Saharan cities scoring in the top 10 overall included Accra (No. 6); Nairobi (No. 7); Lagos (No. 8) Addis Ababa (No. 9) and Kampala (No. 10).
Sub-Saharan countries had some of the highest scores for society and demographics, scoring high points in population growth and diversity — both important for investors, CNN reports.
The report offered alternative rankings showing ease of doing business, GDP growth, attracting FDI, middle-class and overall population growth. Under these criteria, Cairo only made it to the middle of the rankings and was the only city in the top 10 north of the Sahara. Dar es Salaam, Lusaka, Nairobi, Lagos and Accra made the top five, suggesting a new generation of African powerhouse economies is waiting in the wings, CNN reports.
On the overall rankings, the following cities made the top 20: Dakar (No. 11); Abidjan (No. 12); Kigali (No. 13); Lusaka (No. 14); Dar es Salaam (No. 15); Douala (No. 16); Antananarivo (No. 17); Maputo (No. 18); Kinshasa(No. 19); and Luanda (No. 20).
