Dakar — (ECA) The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today launched the second generation of its Country Profiles, on the margins of the African Development Week which is underway in Dakar.

The Country Profiles, which offer a snapshot of economic and social development in African countries, identify policy challenges and provide recommendations to decision-makers, national and regional institutions to address those challenges, this year cover 21 countries.

"The 1st generation of country profiles has strengthened our evidence based policy engagement and dialogue with ECA's members States. Based on data generated by national institutions, they address critical issues at the core of countries economic and social transformation strategies," said Giovani Biha, ECA Deputy Executive Secretary for Knowledge Delivery.

"They are easy to read and accessible to a large group of ECA's constituencies. This second generation of country profiles builds on the success of the 2015 country profiles."

The ECA Country Profiles were originally designed in 2015 in accordance with Resolution 917 of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (Abuja, 2014), with the aim to provide African decision-makers with an independent analysis of their countries' economic and social development including the progress made to achieve regional integration.

The Country Profiles are based on data provided by member States and they complement ongoing ECA efforts to improve the collection and use of statistical data in Africa.

ECA Country Profiles Highlight Challenges in 21 African Countries

Economic Commission for Africa's (ECA) country profiles (CPs) are key data and forecasting tools designed to provide African decision-makers with an independent analysis of their countries' economic and social development, as well as the progress being made to achieve regional integration. Twenty one such country profiles were launched in Dakar, Senegal, in March 2017 on the sidelines of the African Development Week. More on the ECA in this BRIEFING. 

Download Country Profiles 2016. 

They include various innovations such as: the African Social Development Index (ASDI), which measures human exclusion in six key dimensions of wellbeing throughout the life cycle (survival, health, education, employment, means of subsistence and the capacity to live a decent life after the age of 60), the AGDI (African Gender and Development Index) and the African Regional Integration Index, based on the five pillars of regional integration (trade integration, regional infrastructure, productive integration, free movement of people & financial and macroeconomic integration).

The countries covered in the 2016 Country Profiles are Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Chad, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Swaziland and Tunisia.

For more information about the ECA country profiles, please visit: http://www.uneca.org/publications/country-profiles.

Note to the editors

ECA is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Its Office for North Africa aims to support the development of seven countries across the sub region (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Tunisia and Sudan) by helping them formulate and implement policies and programs that support their economic and social transformation.