Organized crime levels in Africa 2021, by country

In 2021, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had the highest organized crime index in Africa, scoring 7.7 points. Nigeria ranked second with a total of 7.38 points. To follow, other African countries with significant criminality levels were the Central African Republic, Kenya, South Africa, and Libya.

Main criminal markets in Africa

Human trafficking is the main type of crime perpetrated in Africa. In 2020, over 25,000 human trafficking victims were identified in Africa, the second-highest number worldwide after the South and Central Asian region. Most victims of trafficking in persons on the continent are girls and women, who are predominantly victims of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Other common forms of criminality in Africa are arms trafficking, as well as non-renewable resources crimes, which include the illegal extraction and trade of natural resources.

Terrorism across Africa

In recent years, terrorism has spread at particularly high levels in some African countries. Nigeria, headquarter of the Boko Haram terrorist group, has been facing high levels of crime, violence, and poor national security, and ranked third in the global terrorism index in 2020, after Afghanistan and Iraq. Terrorism negatively affected Nigeria’s economy. Between 2007 and 2019, terrorist acts in the country had an economic impact of around 142 billion U.S. dollars, the highest value on the continent. After Nigeria, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Mali face the highest levels of terrorism in Africa.