Top 10 major African cities with the highest purchasing power as the year ends

According to the World Bank’s latest Africa Pulse report, Sub-Saharan Africa is now projected to grow by 3.8% in 2025, up from the previous 3.5% prediction.

This progress is being driven by stable pricing, lower inflation, and recovering currencies, conditions critical for increasing urban buying power.

The report reveals that stabilizing inflation and foreign currency values in countries such as Ethiopia has enabled authorities to loosen monetary conditions, including interest rate reduction.

These advantageous conditions are boosting private spending, which is a strong indication of increased household purchasing power in African cities.

In big economies such as Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, stable pricing allows households to stretch their wages longer.

As inflation falls and currencies recover, households become better able to purchase necessities, save, invest, and demand better services, all of which boost urban economic activity.

With the region’s median inflation currently below 4%, real wages are increasing faster.

The World Bank disclosed that 30 of 47 regional economies’ growth projections have been revised upward, indicating that consumer capacity is rising throughout the continent.

As purchasing power grows, African cities benefit from developing middle-class marketplaces, which boost demand for higher-quality commodities, digital services, housing, retail, and financial products.

These processes provide a virtuous cycle in which increased urban consumption stimulates corporate activity, promotes investment, and expands the revenue base required to build city infrastructure.

Furthermore, investment flows are also trending positively.

Stronger consumer markets, paired with macroeconomic stability, qualify these cities as competitive growth areas.

With that said, here are the African cities with the highest purchasing power currently, according to data from Numbeo.