ICT goods imports (% total goods imports) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Information and communication technology goods imports include computers and peripheral equipment, communication equipment, consumer electronic equipment, electronic components, and other information and technology goods (miscellaneous).

Source: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's UNCTADstat database at http://unctadstat.unctad.org/ReportFolders/reportFolders.aspx.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Libya 8.31 2018
2 South Africa 8.18 2020
3 Malawi 6.34 2019
4 Tunisia 5.47 2019
5 Djibouti 5.41 2009
6 Mauritius 5.35 2020
7 Rwanda 5.26 2019
8 Algeria 4.87 2017
9 Kenya 4.75 2020
10 Mali 4.09 2017
11 Morocco 4.03 2019
12 Egypt 3.99 2020
13 Central African Republic 3.87 2018
14 Togo 3.84 2019
15 São Tomé and Principe 3.77 2019
16 Senegal 3.75 2020
17 Nigeria 3.72 2019
18 Mozambique 3.72 2019
19 Zambia 3.52 2020
20 Gabon 3.50 2009
21 Côte d'Ivoire 3.47 2019
22 Cameroon 3.39 2017
23 Tanzania 3.12 2018
24 Uganda 3.06 2020
25 Cabo Verde 3.04 2019
26 Eritrea 3.02 2003
27 Botswana 2.99 2020
28 Ethiopia 2.84 2018
29 Burkina Faso 2.74 2019
30 Lesotho 2.67 2017
31 Niger 2.66 2018
32 Eswatini 2.61 2019
33 Angola 2.52 2018
34 Ghana 2.47 2019
35 Burundi 2.43 2019
36 Zimbabwe 2.40 2020
37 Namibia 2.34 2020
38 Seychelles 2.33 2019
39 Congo 2.25 2019
40 Sierra Leone 2.16 2018
41 Madagascar 2.10 2019
42 Dem. Rep. Congo 1.99 2020
43 Guinea-Bissau 1.85 2005
44 Guinea 1.63 2016
45 Sudan 1.59 2018
46 Benin 1.51 2019
47 The Gambia 1.23 2020
48 Comoros 1.18 2019
49 Mauritania 0.76 2019

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Development Relevance: The digital and information revolution has changed the way the world learns, communicates, does business, and treats illnesses. New information and communications technologies (ICT) offer vast opportunities for progress in all walks of life in all countries - opportunities for economic growth, improved health, better service delivery, learning through distance education, and social and cultural advances. Comparable statistics on access, use, quality, and affordability of ICT are needed to formulate growth-enabling policies for the sector and to monitor and evaluate the sector's impact on development. Although basic access data are available for many countries, in most developing countries little is known about who uses ICT; what they are used for (school, work, business, research, government); and how they affect people and businesses. The global Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development is helping to set standards, harmonize information and communications technology statistics, and build statistical capacity in developing countries. For more information see www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/partnership/. The work of the Partnership is directed towards achieving internationally comparable and reliable ICT statistics. In order to achieve this, its members are involved in developing and maintaining a core list of ICT indicators. Other activities include the compilation and dissemination of ICT data, and the provision of technical assistance enabling statistical agencies to collect data that underlie the core list of ICT indicators.

Limitations and Exceptions: Detailed trade data are widely available from country trade statistics. These are collected by the UNSD and published in their UN COMTRADE database. The ICT goods trade indicators are usually compiled by interested international and national agencies using COMTRADE data. Concepts are therefore consistent with those applying to the COMTRADE database. The main statistical issue associated with this indicator appears to be the different treatment of re-exports and re-imports by countries, depending on whether the Special or General Trade System is used.2 Re-imports are separately reported for some countries and the value of ICT re-imports (which is included in the value of ICT imports for those countries) is generally small.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: Information and communication technology goods imports include computers and peripheral equipment, communication equipment, consumer electronic equipment, electronic components, and other information and technology goods (miscellaneous). Software is generally excluded, as there is a preference to record it under services (not an ICT good but an ICT product) to the extent possible. However it is hard to completely exclude embedded software from certain types of ICT goods, such as video game consoles (see for example the discussion on page 30 of the OECD guide cited below). ICT goods imports as a percentage of total imports is calculated for each country by dividing the value of its ICT goods imports by the total value of its goods imports. The result is then multiplied by 100 to be expressed as a percentage. ICT goods are defined according to the OECD’s Guide on Measuring the Information Society 2011 for Harmonized System (HS) 2007 and adapted to HS12 by UNCTAD in collaboration with UNSD (United Nations Statistics Division). This new list consists of 93 goods defined at the 6 digit level of the 2012 version of the HS. The technical note is available online at: http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/tn_unctad_ict4d02_en.pdf Data were downloaded from COMTRADE according to the reported classification (HS92, 96, 02, 07, 12) and aggregated into ICT groups by UNCTAD.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual