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The Africa Digital Index scores all 54 African markets on how prepared each one is to host data-centre and digital-infrastructure investment. It is built to be transparent about what it measures and where the evidence comes from.
Each market is assessed on established international datasets and our own primary research, every input sourced and dated, and each one placed on a common 0–100 scale so unlike measures can be compared fairly.
That evidence rolls up into the five pillars below. Each pillar summarises one dimension of readiness, so a market’s strengths and gaps are legible at a glance.
The pillars combine into a single composite score from 0 to 100 and a letter grade. Which measures sit under each pillar, and the emphasis placed on them, is proprietary.
Every market is read through the same five lenses. Together they capture the physical, economic, and institutional conditions that decide whether large, always-on compute can land and scale.
Generation capacity and electrification underpinning always-on compute.
Submarine-cable access, fibre reach, and hyperscale footprint.
Monetary stability and the size of the economy.
Addressable market size and workforce readiness.
Governance, ease of doing business, capital inflows, and language reach.
Alongside the 0–100 composite, each market carries a letter grade from A to F as a plain-language read on where it stands today. Grades are relative to the field of African markets; they describe readiness, not a pass or fail. The cut-points are fixed and published here in full, so any composite can be checked against its grade.
| Grade | Composite | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| A | 80 – 100 | Established |
| B | 65 – 79 | Advancing |
| C | 50 – 64 | Emerging |
| D | 35 – 49 | Early |
| E | 20 – 34 | Nascent |
| F | 0 – 19 | Limited |
Each pillar carries its own 0–100 strength, shown as a bar on every market page. The bar is colour-coded against the thresholds below, and always alongside the number and a written label, so the colour is never the only thing carrying the meaning.
The quantitative backbone draws on established international datasets, the same institutions relied on by governments and investors worldwide. Each figure is dated to its release.
Public statistics only go so far. We layer in our own primary research and market intelligence, tracking facilities, cable landings, cloud and hyperscaler activity, power deals, and on-the-ground policy signals, to capture momentum that headline indicators miss.
How these public and private inputs are combined and weighted into the final score is the proprietary core of our work, and is not published.
Want the detail behind a specific market, or a bespoke read for an investment decision? Talk to our team.