https://westafricadispatch.com/Trade and everyday economics across West Africahttps://westafricadispatch.com/stories/annual-urban-population-growth/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/annual-urban-population-growth/Benin’s urban population grew an estimated 3.94% in 2025, compared with 3.47% in Côte d’Ivoire and 2.79% in Ghana. All three rates were lower than their 1990 estimates.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/cereal-yields-since-1990/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/cereal-yields-since-1990/Ghana harvested an estimated 2,632 kilograms of cereals per hectare in 2024, compared with 989 in 1990. Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal also more than doubled their yields over the period, while Nigeria and Benin recorded smaller gains.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/economic-output-per-person-employed/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/economic-output-per-person-employed/Ghana’s estimated output per employed person reached 20,068 constant international dollars in 2025, up from 14,152 in 2015. Nigeria’s estimate fell over the same period. The measure compares economic output with the number of people in employment.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/estimated-maternal-mortality-ratios/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/estimated-maternal-mortality-ratios/Ghana’s estimated maternal mortality ratio fell from 472 to 234 deaths per 100,000 live births between 2000 and 2023. Senegal’s estimate moved from 581 to 237.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/estimated-undernourishment-prevalence/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/estimated-undernourishment-prevalence/In the FAO series, estimated undernourishment in Nigeria rose from 9.1% in 2005 to 22.2% in 2024. Senegal moved from 15.8% to 5.3%, and Ghana from 11.1% to 6.4%.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/fertility-estimates-since-1990/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/fertility-estimates-since-1990/Estimated fertility fell in all five countries between 1990 and 2024. Ghana recorded 3.34 births per woman in 2024, compared with 4.48 in Benin. Both countries were above five births per woman in 1990.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/first-marriage-before-fifteen-and-eighteen/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/first-marriage-before-fifteen-and-eighteen/In Nigeria’s 2024 observation, 33.4% of women aged 20 to 24 had first married or entered a union before turning 18. Ghana’s 2022 reading was 16.1%. Both countries recorded declines across their long-running survey series.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/fisheries-and-aquaculture-production/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/fisheries-and-aquaculture-production/Nigeria recorded about 1.11 million tonnes of fisheries production in 2024. Ghana reached about 618,000 tonnes and Senegal 502,000. The series combines catches and farmed production.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/food-share-of-merchandise-imports/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/food-share-of-merchandise-imports/Food represented 33.27% of Benin’s merchandise import value in 2024, the highest among five West African countries. Côte d’Ivoire was at 20.46% and Senegal 18.99%. The comparison tracks food within each country’s full goods import bill.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/girls-primary-final-grade-intake/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/girls-primary-final-grade-intake/UNESCO’s gross intake ratio for girls entering the last primary grade rose from 29.13% to 80.82% in Côte d’Ivoire between 2000 and 2024. Ghana and Senegal also ended the period above their 2000 observations.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/health-spending-share-of-public-expenditure/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/health-spending-share-of-public-expenditure/Ghana spent 10.05% of general government expenditure on health from domestic public resources in 2023. Côte d’Ivoire recorded 6.58%, Nigeria 4.31%, Senegal 3.58% and Benin 2.55%. The share measures how health spending fits within each country’s public finances.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/household-handwashing-by-residence/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/household-handwashing-by-residence/Ghana led five West African countries in estimated household handwashing coverage in 2024. Its urban rate was 54.99% and its rural rate was 31.31%. Senegal’s urban and rural estimates moved closer together over the previous decade.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/internet-use-five-countries/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/internet-use-five-countries/In 2024, about seven in ten people used the internet in Ghana and six in ten in Senegal. Around four in ten did so in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, and about one in three in Benin.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/life-expectancy-at-birth/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/life-expectancy-at-birth/Life expectancy at birth rose in all five countries from 1990 to 2024. Senegal’s estimate increased from 56.7 to 68.9 years and Nigeria’s from 45.7 to 54.6 years.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/measles-vaccine-first-and-second-dose/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/measles-vaccine-first-and-second-dose/The 2025 WHO and UNICEF estimates put first-dose measles vaccination coverage at 93% in Ghana and 92% in Senegal. The second-dose estimates were 92% and 78% respectively. The two-dose data also show large differences across Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/municipal-solid-waste-growth-scenarios/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/municipal-solid-waste-growth-scenarios/The World Bank’s 2026 waste model puts Nigeria at 45.74 million tonnes of municipal solid waste in 2022 and projects 113.77 million tonnes in 2050 under its baseline assumptions. The dataset keeps its modelled figures separate from older country reports.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/newborn-mortality-first-28-days/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/newborn-mortality-first-28-days/Ghana’s estimated newborn mortality rate fell from 42.0 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 18.1 in 2024. Nigeria’s declined from 49.5 to 39.0 and was slightly above its 2010 rate. The series follows deaths in the first 28 days of life.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/population-living-below-five-metres/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/population-living-below-five-metres/In the 2015 dataset, 7.25% of Benin’s population lived at elevations below five metres, compared with 7.03% in Senegal and 3.53% in Nigeria. Benin’s share of land below that threshold was just 1.14%.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/private-sector-credit-relative-to-gdp/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/private-sector-credit-relative-to-gdp/In 2023, domestic credit to the private sector was equivalent to 31.45% of GDP in Senegal and 9.45% in Ghana. In 2000 the two ratios were much closer, at 14.58% and 13.97%.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/public-education-spending-two-denominators/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/public-education-spending-two-denominators/Senegal’s reported government education spending reached 5.95% of GDP in 2022, while Côte d’Ivoire reported 3.47%. The comparison shifts when the denominator is all government expenditure. The table tracks both UNESCO series and shows the years when the two measures can be compared.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/service-sector-value-added/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/service-sector-value-added/In 2025, services represented 58.23% of Nigeria’s GDP, 51.17% in Côte d’Ivoire and 50.06% in Benin. Ghana’s services share was 42.87%.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/tuberculosis-incidence-and-case-notifications/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/tuberculosis-incidence-and-case-notifications/Nigeria’s notified tuberculosis cases reached 79% of estimated incident cases in 2024, up from 26% in 2019. Its published incidence estimate was 219 per 100,000 people in both years. Across the region, incidence and notification measures changed at different speeds.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/urban-rural-electricity-access/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/urban-rural-electricity-access/In 2024, the gap between urban and rural electricity access ranged from 16 percentage points in Ghana to 62 in Nigeria. Senegal’s rural estimate rose by 28.5 points between 2020 and 2024, bringing it within 28.6 points of urban access.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/women-in-national-legislatures/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/women-in-national-legislatures/Women held 41.21% of seats in Senegal’s National Assembly and 26.61% in Benin’s in the 2025 series. Benin’s recorded share was 7.41% in 2022.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/womens-labour-force-participation/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/womens-labour-force-participation/In the ILO’s estimates, women’s labour force participation reached 75.16% in Benin in 2025, up from 57.11% in 1990. Ghana moved from 70.05% to 55.27% over the same period.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/youth-outside-education-employment-and-training/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/youth-outside-education-employment-and-training/In 2025, the ILO estimated that 44.11% of young women in Senegal were outside employment, education and training, compared with 26.86% of young men. The rates and the size of the gap varied across five West African countries.https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/west-africa-remittance-economies/https://westafricadispatch.com/stories/west-africa-remittance-economies/In 2023, personal remittances were equivalent to 21.6% of GDP in The Gambia and 10.6% in Senegal. The share was below 5% in Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire.