Fact-check: South Sudan isn’t the richest African country

South Sudan ranks low in natural resources compared to other African countries.

Writer: Christopher Luate Obede

A Facebook post published by Radio Dabanga-211, featuring an image of a sunflower field, claiming that South Sudan is the richest country in Africa in terms of resources, is false.

Radio Dabanga-211 is a Facebook page with over 8.2K likes and 18K followers. 

“Renk county-South Sudan, South Sudan, is the richest country in Africa in terms of resources,” it briefly reads in its post shared on January 15, 2024.

Screenshot of the Facebook post by Radio Dabanga-211

Claim Verification:

A Google keyword search by 211 Check finds that the richest African countries ranked by wisevoter, a platform that provides citizens, voters, and elected officials with the information, insights, and tools that amplify democracy in the modern age place Seychelles and Mauritius as the top richest countries in Africa in terms of GNI per capita. The figures are based on the latest IMF and World Bank data.

Other sources like here and here say Nigeria is the richest country in Africa in 2023 by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the total value of goods and services produced in a country within a given period.

Google search for “South Sudan” only returns a result ranked by  The World Bank as the 54th African country that gained independence on July 9, 2011.

According to the Legatum Prosperity Index 2023, South Sudan is 167th among 167 countries. In terms of GDP, Statista forecasts South Sudan’s GDP in 2028 to be $9.05 billion.

Image verification using a Google Lens reverse image search returns several results. The image of the sunflower garden was first posted on X (formerly Twitter) by a user, @moe_abu3agla. It is of a farm in Basinda locality – Gedaref State, Sudan.

بفضل الله اولاً ثم مجهودات الجنقو العظيمة 😂💪🏽
قدرنا ننجح موسمنا الزراعي في (محلية باسندة -ولاية القضارف ) تمكنا من زراعة (الذرة ،عباد الشمس، السمسم والتسالي) وكانت للحزم التقنية في الزراعة الاثر الاكبر لنجاح الموسم،وذلك بقيادة معلم الاجيال،الدكتور و الباشمهندس خالد الجاك(٤/١) ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/8XgoKLkZXP

— Abuagla 🇸🇩 (@moe_abu3agla) December 4, 2023

Conclusion:

211 Check finds the claim that South Sudan is the richest country in Africa false. South Sudan ranks low in natural resources compared to other African countries, according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group data.

A publication under 211 Check’s ‘Fact-Check for a Pay’ Initiative with support from the International Fact-Checking Network through the BUILD grant.

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