Oil is a major source of income for eight African countries – OWID
OIl and gas production makes up more than half of Libya's GDP and contributes a significant share to the GDPs of seven other African countries.
Simon van Teutem for Our World in Data 24 February 2025
Oil production plays an important role in the economy of many African countries. The chart shows oil rents as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) for the nine African nations most reliant on it, Our World in Data reports.
Libya ranks first, with oil rents equivalent to 56% of its GDP in 2021, followed by Congo at 34% and Angola at 28%. Despite being Africa’s largest oil producer, Nigeria’s oil rents are just 6.2% of its GDP.
Despite this, these countries’ oil production is relatively modest on a global scale. In 2021, their combined output was less than half of what the United States, the world’s top producer, extracted.
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