Africa is governed slightly better than it was ten years ago, but its foundations remain shaky. That is the main finding of the 2026 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), released on Saturday 31 October in Cairo by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Covering all 54 African states over the 2016-2025 period, the study concludes that overall governance has improved despite a series of global shocks, while describing that progress as uneven and fragile.
One figure captures the paradox. According to RFI, 31 countries improved their governance over the decade, against 23 that declined, yet the latter are home to more than half of Africa’s population. Four demographic giants weigh heavily on the balance: in Nigeria, the DRC, South Africa and Sudan, overall governance has deteriorated over ten years.
Infrastructure is the real success story of the period. Of the index’s 16 sub-categories, it shows the strongest improvement, with gains in 52 of the 54 countries, Nigeria and the Gambia being the only exceptions. The pace has even quickened over the years. On economic opportunities, 44 countries accounting for 68% of Africans have also made progress.
The flip side lies in security and politics. The security and rule of law category declined in 34 countries, where 78% of the continent’s people live, while participation, rights and inclusion deteriorated in 31 countries representing 60% of the population. The foundation notes that 25 countries, home to nearly 47% of Africans, managed to make economic progress even as their security worsened. It stresses, however, that economic gains tend on average to be stronger where security also improves. Mo Ibrahim praised the continent’s resilience in a turbulent global context, while warning that without progress on security, the rule of law and participation, economic and social gains cannot last.
In the rankings, Seychelles keeps first place. Morocco joins the top 10 in seventh position, at the expense of Tunisia, which slips to eleventh with a score of 60.9 out of 100, having ranked sixth in 2019. South Africa still holds fifth place, but the foundation observes an accelerating deterioration there. At the bottom of the table, Libya and Guinea-Bissau join the lowest ten, which Angola and Congo-Brazzaville leave. The DRC sits in 48th place with 34 points, far below the continental average of 50.1. Sudan, the Central African Republic and Guinea-Bissau are among the countries whose decline is worsening.
To compile this assessment, the foundation drew on 319 variables from 59 datasets provided by 51 African and international sources.