Dylan Bettencourt
Mauritius has over triple the amount of wealth per person compared to South Africa and Namibia.
Mauritius ranks first in the wealth per capita department across Africa with a figure of R593,00 compared to South Africa’s R190,000, according to Visual Capitalist.
Wealth per capita is the amount of capital each individual has on average in the country.
One of the major reasons why South Africa finds itself second is the brain drain created as higher class workers move to the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States.
There are approximately 15 South African-born dollar billionaires in the world but only five still live in their birth country.
Some of the reasons Mauritius trumps the rest of Africa is due to several wealthy individuals moving to the country in recent years.
It is also easier to do business in Mauritius, which is ranked the 13th best nation in the world to do business by the World’s Doing Business report.
Low taxes are another reason the rich move to the Island. There is no inheritance tax or capital gains tax in Mauritius. Along with the low tax rates, it is also considered the safest country in Africa, according to the New World Health report.
All the factors came together to give Mauritius the highest growth in total private wealth over the last 10 years with a 74% growth rate.
Mauritius was followed by Rwanda (60%) and Ethiopia (52%) in the total private wealth rate growth.
However, despite the growth of Mauritius, five countries still account for over half the total wealth on the continent.
South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco still account for the majority of the wealth in Africa.
Despite major setbacks due to the Covid-19 pandemic, wealth creation remained strong in Africa with total private wealth said to be valued around R36 trillion, a figure expected to increase 40% by 2031.
There are also 21 dollar billionaires across Africa.
Africa’s biggest economy Nigeria had the greatest decrease in wealth growth rate with a negative of 27%, which stems from high unemployment, corruption and an over-reliance on crude oil.
Image source: @FinancialTimes
