37 of Africa’s 100 biggest markets in Nigeria
Nigerian cities dominate the top 100 Africa biggest markets with capital, consumer size and connectivity, ahead of Egypt and South Africa in the Fraym Urban Markets index.
37 cities in Nigeria made it into the top 100, with Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Ibadan and Port Harcourt ranked in the top 25 at 3rd, 17th, 18th, 19th and 22nd respectively ahead of South Africa 9 and Morocco 8.
However, top of the list overall was Eqypt’s capital city Cairo, followed by Johannesburg (South Africa), Lagos(Nigeria), Luanda(Angola) and surprisingly number five Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kinshasha.
Egypt Cairo ranked first both in Consumer, Connectivity, and Capital, Nigeria Lagos unsurprisingly came in second on consumer level followed by Congo Kinshasa with South Africa fourth.
South Africa also had four cities including Durban at number 13, Vereeniging, a city in Gauteng province, South Africa,which closed the list in top 35 cities and Cape Town at position seven as Egypt had also apart from Cairo, Alexandria, the Mediterranean port city in Egypt came at position nine.
Interestingly, the metropolis of Lagos has roughly the same-sized urban consumer class (12.2 million) as all thirteen large cities in the East African Community (12.5 million in Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda). The consumer class in Nigeria’s 37 cities is 41.6 million
Nairobi Kenya was ranked 19th on capital, 13 on consumers and 6th on connectivity, occupying the 10th position overall in Africa. However, the city is still considered well-connected commerce and transportation hub.
“Nairobi has successfully positioned itself as a hyper-connected hub, both within East Africa and across the continent. This gives the city an outsized influence despite having a smaller GDP than many other African cities,” said Fraym CEO Ben Leo.
“Surprise cities were Kinshasa and Khartoum. Interestingly, Nigeria had the most cities (5) in the top 25 with 37 cities in the top 100 biggest markets in Africa. South Africa came in second with nine cities in the top 100.”
“Outside of the top three, each African city has a unique profile. Some, like Khartoum and Alexandria, are very large markets with many millions of emerging consumers. Others, like Nairobi and Casablanca, are highly connected gateways to their sub-regions and beyond. This reflects the diversity of the continent and the need to examine each city market as a distinct entity,” said Fraym CEO Ben Leo.
DAVID IBEMERE