Organized crime rate in Africa by country 2023

In 2023, the Democratic Republic of the Congo had Africa's highest organized crime index in Africa, scoring 7.35 points. Nigeria ranked second with a total of 7.28 points. To follow, other African countries with significant criminality levels were South Africa, Kenya, Libya, and the Central African Republic.

Main criminal markets in Africa

Human trafficking is the main type of crime perpetrated in Africa. In 2022, over 21,700 human trafficking victims were identified in Sub-Saharan Africa. 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 financial crimes, as well as arms trafficking, which include the illegal trade of unauthorized small arms, ammunition, and explosives.

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 among the highest 10 countries in the global terrorism index in 2022. However, Nigeria and Niger have seen improvements between 2020 and 2022, with the hot spot area in the region moving more towards the border area between Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Furthermore, terrorism tends to have adverse effects on the economy. For example, the economic impact of terrorist acts between 2007 and 2019 in Nigeria amounted to around 142 billion U.S. dollars.

Organized crime index in Africa in 2023, by country

Characteristic	Index (1-10)
Congo, Dem. Rep.	7.35
Nigeria	7.28
South Africa	7.18
Kenya	7.08
Libya	6.93
Central African Republic	6.75
Uganda	6.55
Sudan	6.37
South Sudan	6.32
Cameroon	6.27
Mozambique	6.2
Tanzania	6.2
Somalia	6.13
Côte D'Ivoire	6.02
Mali	5.93
Burkina Faso	5.92
Ghana	5.8
Niger	5.7
Ethiopia	5.68
Madagascar	5.58
Angola	5.58
Senegal	5.52
Chad	5.5
Liberia	5.5
Zimbabwe	5.47
Benin	5.32
Togo	5.23
Guinea-Bissau	5.1
Egypt	5.05
Sierra Leone	4.95
Algeria	4.88
Burundi	4.87
Gabon	4.85
Morocco	4.8
Congo, Rep.	4.78
Zambia	4.73
Djibouti	4.65
Guinea	4.58
Gambia	4.53
Malawi	4.48
Tunisia	4.45
Mauritania	4.38
Equatorial Guinea	4.38
Eswatini	4.38
Mauritius	4.37
Botswana	4.35
Namibia	4.3
Cabo Verde	4.28
Eritrea	3.97
Lesotho	3.92
Comoros	3.92
Seychelles	3.9
Rwanda	3.6
São Tomé And Príncipe	1.7

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Release date

2023

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Region

Africa

Survey time period

2023

Supplementary notes

The source adds the following information:
"The ENACT Organised Crime Index is an innovative tool designed to measure levels of organised crime in African countries and assess their resilience to organised-criminal activity. Comprising two composite metrics, the Index ranks countries both according to their levels of criminality on a score from 1 to 10 (lowest to highest crime levels) and according to resilience to organised crime from 1 to 10 (lowest to highest resilience levels)." Data shown here refer to the levels of criminality.

Organized crime is defined as "illegal activities, conducted by groups or networks acting in concert, by engaging in violence, corruption or related activities in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or material benefit. Such activities may be carried out both within a country and transnationally."

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