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Egypt was the second-wealthiest country in Africa in 2023, according to a report by leading advisory firm Henley & Partners analyzing the richest countries in Africa. In addition to breaking down the distribution and concentration of wealth in African countries and cities, the report also looks at economic mobility and how investors have been moving their money across the continent.
The nitty-gritty: The Big 5 of Africa — South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, and Morocco — account for 56% of all m’naires and 90% of all b’naires in Africa. Out of the 21 b’naires on the continent, seven of them are based in Egypt. Meanwhile, Cairo is listed as the ninth most expensive city in Africa, and the third wealthiest.
But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows: The number of m’naires in Egypt dropped 22% y-o-y, following the trend among the three wealthiest countries on the continent, and factors into the overall 8% reduction in African m’naires since 2013. Dominic Volek, a senior at H&P, says that while the continent’s growth trends are promising — thanks to fintech, eco-tourism, and green tech, among others — currency depreciation is the main culprit behind the continent’s setbacks. Egypt, Nigeria, Angola, and Zambia have all seen currency depreciations over 75% within the past decade.
Where are the m’naires going? A large portion of this attrition of high net-worth individuals is a result of migration, with 18.7k HNWIs leaving the continent since 2013, according to New World Health’s head of research Andrew Amoils. Of the 54 African-born b’naires, 33 have left the continent. This includes South Africa’s Elon Musk. The UK, US, Australia, and UAE have seen the largest numbers of migrating African HNWIs. Others have switched it up, moving to France, Switzerland, and Monaco, with fewer settling in Portugal, Canada, New Zealand, and Israel.
The overall outlook is positive: Volek describes Egypt as one of the pockets of prosperity in Africa, and one of the fastest-growing markets in the world. Africa is expected to see its m’naire population growing 65% within the next decade, led by Mauritius, Namibia, and Morocco. Justice Malala, a political commentator and newspaper columnist, reports a prediction that African countries will account for 11 of the 20 fastest-growing economies across the globe this year.
