Sub‑Saharan African executives rank unemployment, weak public services, debt and inflation as the most urgent threats to their economies over the next two years, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026. The region’s risk profile, drawn from business leaders in countries such as Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Zambia and others, highlights a persistent social and economic squeeze rather than the frontier technology or geopolitical shocks that dominate headlines elsewhere.
Across multiple Sub‑Saharan African economies, “lack of economic opportunity or unemployment” is listed as the number-one national risk, reflecting concern over slow job creation, large youth cohorts and uneven post‑pandemic recovery. In Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, Lesotho, Liberia, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, unemployment or lack of opportunity appears in the top five risks, often in first place. South African executives also rank joblessness as the country’s leading threat, ahead of crime and infrastructure disruptions.
Weak public services and social protection — including education, infrastructure and pensions — emerge as the second defining pressure point for the region. Respondents in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, Mozambique, Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Honduras‑style peers and several other African states consistently place “insufficient public services and social protections” among their top three concerns, underscoring fears that fragile health, education and welfare systems are unable to absorb new shocks.
Inflation and debt burdens further complicate the picture. Business leaders in countries such as Angola, Egypt, Cameroon, Malawi, Morocco and others point to high prices and rising public and private debt as key short‑term threats, signalling limited fiscal space to respond to future crises. In many cases, inflation is listed alongside economic downturn and unemployment, highlighting a risk of stagflation‑like conditions that could deepen poverty and social tension.
While advanced and emerging economies in other regions increasingly worry about the disruptive potential of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, Sub‑Saharan Africa’s risk map remains dominated by basic economic and governance challenges. AI‑related risks do appear in the top five for some African countries, including Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa, but they sit alongside, rather than replace, older structural threats such as crime, health decline and inequality.
The report warns that this combination of weak job markets, strained state capacity and high living costs could amplify social unrest, erode trust in institutions and slow the region’s ability to benefit from global technological and economic shifts. It also notes that development assistance and stronger domestic institutions will be critical for helping African states manage these overlapping risks and avoid being further marginalised in an era of intensified geoeconomic confrontation and technological divides.
