Information and Knowledge Needs of ACP Countries

Introductory Statistical Indicators

What is the ACP Group?

The Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Group is made up of seventy-one developing countries, thirty-nine of which are among the world's least developed. Located in three distinct regions, they share a common link with Europe through the Lomé Convention.* Until it ran out at the end of February 2000, the Lomé Convention sets out guidelines and priorities that govern ACP/European cooperation in the areas of trade, development aid, and cultural exchange. A successor agreement, maintaining the special relationship between the ACP and Europe, is scheduled to be signed in June.

Forty-seven of the ACP countries are located in Africa, accounting for all the countries south of the Sahara. Of the rest, sixteen are island states of the Caribbean and eight are Pacific islands. Table 1: Selected Information and Knowledge Statistics for ACP Countries, includes a complete list of ACP members

The ACP countries represent a priority area for European Union aid, accounting for approximately 50% of total EU aid. By prioritising ACP countries, and particularly the least developed among them, the EU directs its aid toward a significant number of the world's least developed countries.

The Lomé Convention also stipulates that ACP countries will have preferred trading status with Europe. Despite this, ACP countries trade with Europe has declined as a share of total European trade over the past twenty years. Trade has proven to be a particularly difficult area in EU/ACP negotiations, at least partly because WTO obligations will make it difficult to maintain the special trading status.

*Note: The one exception is South Africa, which is not a signatory to the current Lomé Convention, having joined the ACP Group after it was signed. South Africa's status will be the same as other ACP countries when the Convention's successor agreement is signed later this year. 

Human Development

ACP members account for thirty-nine of the world's poorest countries, a situation reflected in many of the important key human development indicators, such adult literacy, education, per capita GDP, and life expectancy. Only ten ACP countries are classified as high or upper middle income, while almost 60% of them fall into the low income classification.

Figure 1: GDP ranking of all ACP countries
Source: ITU 1999, World Telecommunications Indicators

The UNDP's Human Development Index(1) provides a similar picture, although this one based on a broader range of indicators that include economic performance, health, education and literacy and various quality of life indicators. One half of ACP members are classified by UNDP as countries with low levels of human development.

Both GDP and HDI data show that there is a significant difference between A, C and P countries. According to the UNDP, the average HDI Value of ACP member countries in Africa is .459 whereas in the Caribbean this is .749, and among the Pacific Island ACP members it is .666.

Telecom Indicators

In addition to more detailed data on a small selection of economic and human development indicators, Table 1 shows a number of key telecom indicators. Once again, the difference between Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands is worth noting. For example, while the average teledensity of all ACP countries is 6.3%, the Caribbean is far ahead with a regional average of 21.2%. The Pacific Islands average is 3.8% and among African ACP members average teledensity is only 1.5%.

The Internet is still unknown to all but a tiny few, and it is here that the difference between the position of ACP countries and the industrialised countries is most pronounced. While the industrialised countries have an average of 450 Internet host computers per 10,000 population, the ACP average is only 3 population, and in Sub Saharan Africa this drops to a mere 1.2 Internet hosts for every 10,000 inhabitants.

Only with the traditional electronic media do we get a picture of any meaningful reach for the telecommunications in most ACP countries, and especially among the poorest. On average there are10.4 television receivers per 100 people in ACP countries and 28 radio receivers and even among the African ACP members there is an average of one radio receiver for every five people.

(1) The Human Development Indicator (HDI) reflects quality of life – leading a long life, being knowledgeable and enjoying a decent standard of living. High human development are the top 45 countries in the world that have a HDI value of 0.800 or more. Countries characterised with medium human development have HDI values of 0.500 – 0.800. The other countries, with an HDI value of less than 0.500, have low human development. Source: UNDP 1999, Human Development Report.

Back to Issues and Options for ACP Countries in Global Knowledge Partnerships

Country*1

Popul
.(Mill.)

GDP
($)*2

Life
Expect.*3

Adult
Liter.*4

HDI
Value*5

Tele
Density*6

Public
Phone/
1,000*7

Mobile
Density*8

Mobile
Subs.*9

Internet
Host/
10,000*10

TV
Density*11

Radio
Density*12

-

877

-

-

0.466

1.9%

-

-

-

1.26

5.9%

19.4%

12.09

1,684

46.5

45.0%

0.398

0.5%

-

0.1%

12.0%

-

12.4%

5.9%

5.78

374

53.4

33.9%

0.421

0.6%

0.1

0.1%

14.1%

0.02

9.1%

40.7%

1.57

3,252

47.4

74.4%

0.609

5.5%

1.3

1.5%

21.2%

4.19

2.7%

88.0%

11.31

199

44.4

20.7%

0.304

0.3%

0.1

-

6.2%

0.16

0.6%

3.2%

6.46

159

42.4

44.6%

0.324

0.3%

-

-

3.2%

-

1.0%

8.2%

14.31

617

54.7

71.7%

0.536

0.5%

-

-

5.3%

-

8.1%

3.2%

0.41

876

68.9

71.0%

0.677

8.2%

1.0

0.3%

2.5%

0.02

4.5%

20.2%

3.48

276

44.9

42.4%

0.378

0.3%

-

-

6.9%

-

0.5%

9.3%

7.27

149

47.2

50.3%

0.393

0.1%

-

-

-

-

0.2%

25.1%

0.66

382

58.8

55.4%

0.506

0.8%

0.2

-

-

0.14

0.4%

21.6%

49.30

690

50.8

77.0%

0.533

0.1%

-

-

29.8%

-

4.3%

10.2%

2.79

833

48.6

76.9%

0.479

0.8%

-

0.1%

13.4%

-

0.8%

31.8%

14.29

767

46.7

42.6%

0.422

0.9%

0.1

0.6%

34.9%

0.17

7.0%

14.3%

0.62

846

50.4

48.3%

0.412

1.3%

0.1

-

2.7%

0.06

7.3%

8.6%

0.43

668

50.0

79.9%

0.549

0.9%

-

0.1%

5.1%

-

16.2%

-

3.58

161

50.8

25.0%

0.346

0.5%

0.1

-

-

-

-

40.8%

59.65

103

43.3

35.4%

0.298

0.3%

-

-

-

0.01

0.5%

20.6%

1.17

5,121

52.4

66.2%

0.607

3.3%

0.7

0.8%

20.3%

-

13.6%

17.9%

1.23

284

47.0

33.1%

0.391

1.9%

0.2

0.4%

16.5%

0.08

0.4%

15.7%

19.16

372

60.0

66.4%

0.544

0.4%

0.1

0.1%

17.2%

0.10

11.5%

26.9%

7.71

677

46.5

37.9%

0.398

0.3%

0.1

0.3%

37.0%

-

4.1%

13.2%

1.13

245

45.0

33.6%

0.343

0.7%

0.1

-

-

0.13

-

4.0%

29.01

347

52.0

79.3%

0.519

0.8%

0.2

0.0%

1.9%

0.24

2.1%

8.9%

2.06

547

56.0

82.3%

0.582

1.0%

0.1

0.5%

32.8%

0.09

2.4%

7.8%

2.67

-

-

-

-

0.2%

-

-

-

-

2.1%

22.4%

16.36

224

57.5

47.0%

0.453

0.3%

-

0.1%

21.3%

0.04

4.6%

21.4%

10.75

242

39.3

57.7%

0.399

0.3%

0.1

0.1%

21.9%

-

0.2%

21.9%

10.69

230

53.3

35.5%

0.375

0.2%

0.1

-

14.3%

-

1.1%

16.8%

2.53

455

53.5

38.4%

0.447

0.6%

0.3

-

-

0.06

9.1%

18.8%

18.88

86

45.2

40.5%

0.341

0.4%

-

-

8.2%

0.07

0.4%

4.6%

1.66

2,051

52.4

79.8%

0.638

6.3%

1.3

1.2%

14.6%

15.99

3.2%

5.5%

10.08

161

48.5

14.3%

0.298

0.2%

-

0.0%

6.9%

0.02

2.6%

6.1%

106.41

551

50.1

59.5%

0.456

0.4%

-

0.0%

3.5%

0.04

6.7%

19.6%

6.60

317

40.5

63.0%

0.379

0.3%

0.1

0.2%

58.1%

-

-

7.6%

0.14

358

64.0

75.0%

0.609

2.0%

0.1

-

-

8.16

22.7%

28.9%

9.00

518

52.3

34.6%

0.426

1.3%

1.1

0.3%

13.7%

0.22

4.1%

11.5%

0.08

6,995

71.0

84.0%

0.755

19.6%

3.0

4.9%

16.7%

0.90

19.0%

47.8%

4.57

209

37.2

33.3%

0.254

0.4%

0.1

-

-

0.03

2.6%

6.7%

10.63

-

-

-

-

0.2%

-

-

-

-

1.3%

22.7%

28.29

364

55.0

53.3%

0.475

0.5%

0.1

-

5.0%

-

14.1%

31.1%

0.95

1,388

60.2

77.5%

0.644

2.4%

0.9

0.5%

13.9%

2.92

10.7%

6.8%

32.10

244

47.9

71.6%

0.421

0.3%

-

0.1%

23.8%

0.04

2.1%

39.8%

4.40

324

48.8

53.2%

0.469

0.6%

0.1

0.2%

19.3%

0.25

2.0%

38.0%

20.55

317

39.6

64.0%

0.404

0.3%

0.1

0.2%

34.5%

0.05

2.6%

12.3%

8.78

463

40.1

75.1%

0.431

0.9%

0.1

0.1%

6.2%

0.35

13.7%

10.2%

12.68

712

44.1

90.9%

0.56

1.7%

0.2

0.4%

20.6%

0.81

2.9%

8.5%

Country

Popul
.(Mill.)

GDP
($)

Life
Expect.

Adult
Liter.

HDI
Value

Tele
Density

Public
Phone/
1,000

Mobile
Density

Mobile
Subscr.

Internet
Host/
10,000

TV
Density

Radio
Density

-

4,084

-

-

0.749

21.3%

-

-

-

7.6

26.3%

55.4%

0.07

8,266

75.0

95.0%

0.828

40.8%

4.7

1.9%

4.4%

24.09

45.2%

44.0%

0.30

11,001

73.8

95.8%

0.851

33.3%

4.8

2.7%

7.0%

16.25

89.6%

54.3%

0.27

8,216

76.4

97.6%

0.857

36.5%

2.1

4.5%

9.6%

1.64

28.3%

87.7%

0.24

2,748

74.7

75.0%

0.732

13.7%

2.8

1.5%

9.8%

10.96

18.0%

28.8%

0.08

3,236

74.0

94.0%

0.776

25.2%

4.2

0.9%

3.4%

19.54

17.5%

57.8%

8.23

1,862

70.6

82.6%

0.726

8.0%

0.6

3.1%

25.1%

5.86

8.4%

17.3%

0.10

3,135

72.0

96.0%

0.777

26.1%

2.1

1.4%

4.9%

0.29

32.5%

59.2%

0.85

881

64.4

98.1%

0.701

6.0%

0.3

0.2%

2.4%

0.81

5.9%

49.0%

7.65

447

53.7

45.8%

0.43

0.8%

-

-

-

-

0.5%

6.0%

2.54

2,461

74.8

85.5%

0.734

14.0%

0.8

2.2%

13.4%

1.27

32.3%

79.4%

0.04

6,589

70.0

90.0%

0.781

38.2%

-

1.1%

2.5%

1.22

24.4%

66.7%

0.15

3,816

70.0

82.0%

0.737

25.4%

2.9

1.3%

4.6%

1.56

21.1%

74.6%

0.11

2,469

73.0

82.0%

0.744

17.9%

1.5

0.4%

-

-

16.2%

69.9%

0.44

1,521

70.1

93.5%

0.757

14.6%

0.6

1.4%

8.2%

0.02

21.7%

87.0%

1.28

4,608

73.8

97.8%

0.797

19.0%

1.6

2.0%

9.1%

15.15

33.1%

49.5%

Country

Popul
.(Mill.)

GDP
($)

Life
Expect.

Adult
Liter.

HDI
Value

Tele
Density

Public
Phone/
1,000

Mobile
Density

Mobile
Subscr.

Internet
Host/
10,000

TV
Density

Radio
Density

-

1,385

-

-

0.666

3.8%

-

-

-

1.61

4.1%

26.4%

0.80

2,752

72.7

91.8%

0.763

8.9%

1.1%

1.0%

9.4%

2.69

9.7%

16.2%

0.08

545

-

-

-

2.6%

0.2%

-

0.8%

-

2.2%

20.1%

4.28

1,205

57.9

73.7%

0.57

1.1%

0.1%

0.1%

6.1%

0.28

2.4%

7.4%

0.42

949

71.7

62.0%

0.623

1.8%

0.4%

0.2%

8.2%

0.48

1.4%

12.7%

0.10

1,815

-

-

-

7.9%

0.2%

0.3%

3.7%

1.90

5.1%

55.6%

0.01

-

-

-

-

0.3%

-

-

-

-

-

-

0.18

1,404

67.4

64.0%

0.627

2.6%

0.3%

0.1%

4.1%

4.29

1.3%

-

0.23

1,028

71.3

98.0%

0.747

5.1%

0.9%

1.7%

26.1%

0.11

6.9%

46.1%

-

1,534

48.9

58.5%

0.463

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

6,868

69.5

87.2%

0.756

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

3,697

65.9

87.9%

0.695

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

1,649

-

-

0.547

6.27%

-

-

-

3.0

10.4

28.0

-

23,741

77.7

98.7%

0.919

-

-

-

-

450.43

64.8%

-

Country/Region

Popul
.(Mill.)

GDP
($)

Life
Expect.

Adult
Liter.

HDI
Value

Tele
Density

Public
Phone/
1,000

Mobile
Density

Mobile
Subscr.

Internet
Host/
10,000

TV
Density

Radio
Density