Tax revenues rose across African countries for the third consecutive year in 2023 driven by higher revenues from corporate income tax (CIT), according to a new report.
Revenue Statistics in Africa 2025 shows that the average tax-to-GDP ratio across the 38 countries covered in the report – which includes The Gambia and Liberia for the first time – reached 16.1% in 2023, an increase of 0.5 percentage points (p.p.) from the previous year. This was the third consecutive annual increase, following increases of 0.3 p.p. in both 2021 and 2022.
Over a longer timeframe, Africa’s average tax-to-GDP ratio rose by 1.4 p.p. between 2013 and 2023. However, Africa’s average tax-to-GDP ratio in 2023 remained below the averages for Asia and the Pacific (19.6%), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC, 21.3%), and OECD countries (33.9%).
This tenth edition of the report, which was launched today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the 19th Session of the African Union Committee of Director Generals of National Statistics Offices, shows that tax-to-GDP ratios varied widely across African countries in 2023, from 2.9% in Somalia to 34.0% in Tunisia.
Amid a challenging macroeconomic context in Africa characterised by a slowdown in growth, declines in hydrocarbon prices, high inflation and rising debt service costs, tax revenues increased as a percentage of GDP in 24 countries, decreased in 13 and remained unchanged in one between 2022 and 2023.
Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad recorded the largest increases in their tax-to-GDP ratio (4.9 p.p., 4.5 p.p. and 3.4 p.p. respectively), which were driven by CIT revenues derived from strong profits in the oil sector in 2022. A fall in CIT revenues was responsible for the largest decline, of 2.1 p.p., in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The new report shows that CIT revenues rose by an average of 0.3% of GDP across Africa in 2023. Revenues from taxes on goods and services, the main source of tax revenues on average across African countries, increased by 0.1% of GDP in 2023 while revenues from personal income tax increased by 0.1% of GDP from the previous year and social security contributions remained unchanged as a share of GDP.
Non-tax revenues remained unchanged in 2023 relative to 2022 on average across the 37 countries with available data, at 5.9% of GDP. The largest increases in non-tax revenues as a share of GDP were observed in Eswatini and Lesotho (6.3 p.p. and 11.2 p.p. respectively) while the largest decreases occurred in Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea (7.5 p.p. and 9.6 p.p. respectively). Non-tax revenues ranged from 0.5% of GDP in The Gambia to 33.8% of GDP in Lesotho in 2023.
Non-tax revenues declined by 1.2% of GDP on average across the 37 countries between 2013 and 2023. In terms of total revenues (tax and non-tax combined), the fall in non-tax revenues offset more than 85% of the increase in tax revenues over this period. The growing proportion of tax revenues within total revenues represents a shift towards a more stable source of financing for African countries.
Revenue Statistics in Africa is a joint initiative of the AUC, the OECD Centre for Tax and Policy and Administration, the OECD Development Centre, and ATAF, with technical support from the African Development Bank and the Cercle de réflexion et d’échange des dirigeants des administrations fiscales (CREDAF). The new report includes a special feature the commonalities and specificities of African revenue classifications.
The 2025 edition of Revenue Statistics in Africa is supported by the governments of Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
To access the report, data, brochure and country notes, visit: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/revenue-statistics-in-africa-2025_8d3bf3af-en.html.
Press contacts
For further information, journalists are invited to contact:
- AUC: Janet Faith Adhiambo Ochieng (ochiengj@africaunion.org)
- ATAF: Ezera Madzivanyika (+27 63 689 3894)
- OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration: Alexander Pick (tel: +33 1 45 24 87 27)
- OECD Development Centre: Rebecca Appel (+33 1 45 24 80 67)
