Charts / Energy
Africa's CO2 Per-Capita Gap With the World
Most big African economies emit far less CO2 per person than the global average.
Updated 2026 · Data year 2024
Figure 1
Most big African economies emit far less CO2 per person than the global average.
6.87
South Africa · t
African countryWorld average
Source: Global Carbon Project · 2024 · Territorial CO2 emissions per person, 2024. World average shown as the comparison point.
In 2024 the world emitted an average of 4.73 tonnes of CO2 per person. South Africa, at 6.87 tonnes, was the only country shown above that line, while Egypt (2.22) and Morocco (1.81) sat below it. Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and DR Congo each emitted under 0.6 tonnes per person.
Takeaways
- World average CO2 emissions were 4.73 tonnes per capita in 2024.
- South Africa emitted 6.87 tonnes per person, about 45% above the world average.
- Egypt (2.22 t) and Morocco (1.81 t) remained well below the global figure.
- DR Congo emitted just 0.05 tonnes per person, roughly 1/140th of South Africa.
- Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, emitted 0.58 tonnes per capita.
Sources
- TIER A Global Carbon Project, Global Carbon Budget 2024 (per-capita territorial emissions, via Our World in Data) (2024). https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita
Values read from the 2024 data year of the Global Carbon Budget dataset.