Statista, a global statistics platform, has ranked Africa’s top 15 expensive cities to live in amidst global rising inflation in the first quarter of 2022. Lagos State, the only Nigerian city ranked 12th on the list, with an index score of 37.33 considering consumer goods price.
Driving the news
Statista’s report ranked Dakar, Senegal as the most expensive African city with an index score of 50.87, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with an index score of 50.49 and Abidjan, Ivory Coast with an index score of 47.06 to round up the top three.
- Four South African cities made the top ten including Pretoria, its legislative capital Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban.
- Morocco also had multiple cities on the list with three cities namely Marrakech, Tangier and Casablanca with index scores 39.94, 36.85 and 36.59, respectively.
- West African countries that ranked above Nigeria include Ghana and Senegal.
State of play
The index cost is an indicator of consumer goods prices, including groceries, restaurants, transportation and utilities. The Index score of these African countries as determined by Statista is not inclusive of expenses such as rent or mortgage.
- The index cost constantly changes with time and place.
What they are saying
Analysts at Statista say “the prices of goods and services have generally increased across the world with global events (such as the war in Ukraine) having direct negative impacts on many African economies, causing the increase in cost of living in these countries”.
What you should know
- Nigeria’s inflation rate further rose to 16.82% in April 2022, the highest rate since August 2021.
- According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), April’s report showed that food inflation in Africa’s most populous nation rose to 18.37% in May from 17.2% in April 2022.
- Therefore, the average price of 1kilogram of frozen chicken rose by 36.5% to N2,483.75 in April 2022 from N1,818.75 in April 2021.
- Also, the average price of a dozen eggs rose to N815.4 from N568.10, representing a 43.53% year-on-year increase.
- Transportation is no better as Lagos State residents saw a 1.7% year-on-year increase of N458.82 per individual.