Sub-Saharan Africa Accounts for Largest Share of Global Prosperity Gap, Data Shows
August 19, 2026
Sub-Saharan Africa recorded the largest regional prosperity gap in 2024, according to data presented in a chart based on the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), September 2024 version.
The figures show substantial differences between regions, with Sub-Saharan Africa standing well above other parts of the world on the measured prosperity-gap indicator. South Asia also recorded a comparatively high level, while Europe and Central Asia and the rest of the world were among the regions with the smallest gaps shown.
Sub-Saharan Africa Records Highest Regional Gap
The chart puts the Sub-Saharan Africa prosperity gap at 12.2, the highest figure among the regions displayed.
South Asia followed with a gap of 6.2. The Middle East and North Africa recorded 4.7, while the global figure shown in the comparison stood at 4.9.
Other regions recorded lower values. Latin America and the Caribbean registered 3.2, East Asia and the Pacific 2.8, and Europe and Central Asia 1.7. The figure for the rest of the world was 1.0.
The wide difference between the highest and lowest regional values illustrates the uneven distribution of prosperity gaps across the regions covered by the dataset.
Africa and South Asia Dominate the Global Contribution
The second part of the chart compares each region’s contribution to the overall global prosperity gap with its share of the world’s population.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 38.9% of the global prosperity gap, despite representing 15.7% of the global population in the chart.
South Asia contributed 30.5% of the global prosperity gap, while its population share was 24.2%.
Together, these figures show that the two regions represented the largest contributions to the global prosperity gap among the areas listed.
East Asia and Pacific Shows Different Pattern
East Asia and the Pacific contributed 15.2% of the global prosperity gap, while the region represented 26.4% of the world’s population in the chart.
This creates a notable contrast with Sub-Saharan Africa, where the region’s contribution to the global prosperity gap was substantially higher than its population share.
The comparison demonstrates why population size alone does not determine a region’s contribution to the overall prosperity gap.
Other Regions’ Contributions
Latin America and the Caribbean accounted for 5.4% of the global prosperity gap and 8.2% of global population.
The Middle East and North Africa represented 5.2% of the global prosperity gap, compared with a 5.5% share of global population.
The remaining regions also made contributions to the global measure. The chart shows the rest of the world accounting for 13.9% of global population, while Europe and Central Asia represented 6.1%.
What the Data Illustrates
The figures highlight considerable regional differences in the distribution of prosperity gaps.
Sub-Saharan Africa stands out most clearly because its 12.2 regional gap is nearly twice the figure shown for South Asia and considerably higher than the values recorded for other regions.
The contribution figures provide another perspective. A region can have a large population but account for a smaller proportion of the global prosperity gap, while another region can contribute a disproportionately large share relative to its population.
Data Based on Poverty and Inequality Platform
The chart identifies the Poverty and Inequality Platform, September 2024 version, as its source.
It notes that the regional prosperity-gap figures are presented separately from the population-weighted contributions used in the global comparison. The estimates for 2024 are described as projections beginning in different years depending on the region: 2019 for the Middle East and North Africa, 2020 for Sub-Saharan Africa and 2023 for the other regions.
The chart also notes that displayed percentages may not total exactly 100 because of rounding.
Overall, the 2024 data presents a stark picture of regional differences, with Sub-Saharan Africa emerging as the region with the largest measured prosperity gap and the largest contribution to the global prosperity-gap figure.
