Tax revenue (% of GDP) - Country Ranking - Africa

Definition: Tax revenue refers to compulsory transfers to the central government for public purposes. Certain compulsory transfers such as fines, penalties, and most social security contributions are excluded. Refunds and corrections of erroneously collected tax revenue are treated as negative revenue.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Government Finance Statistics Yearbook and data files, and World Bank and OECD GDP estimates.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 Seychelles 34.96 2018
2 Lesotho 32.88 2019
3 Namibia 30.46 2019
4 Mozambique 26.90 2019
5 South Africa 24.22 2019
6 Morocco 21.42 2019
7 Botswana 21.27 2019
8 Tunisia 20.12 2012
9 Cabo Verde 20.09 2017
10 Mauritius 19.95 2019
11 The Gambia 18.20 1990
12 Zambia 16.68 2019
13 Senegal 16.38 2018
14 Burkina Faso 15.50 2019
15 Kenya 15.07 2019
16 Rwanda 14.59 2019
17 Mali 14.50 2019
18 Zimbabwe 13.60 2018
19 Burundi 13.60 1999
20 Togo 13.16 2019
21 Egypt 12.52 2015
22 Cameroon 12.35 2018
23 Uganda 12.24 2019
24 Ghana 12.04 2019
25 Côte d'Ivoire 12.03 2019
26 Niger 11.76 1980
27 Malawi 11.72 2020
28 Tanzania 11.70 2018
29 Gabon 11.48 2019
30 Guinea 10.84 1992
31 Benin 10.79 1979
32 Dem. Rep. Congo 10.70 1989
33 Madagascar 10.53 2019
34 Guinea-Bissau 9.46 2019
35 Angola 9.38 2019
36 Equatorial Guinea 9.26 2019
37 Central African Republic 8.64 2018
38 Congo 7.75 2018
39 Sudan 7.39 2016
40 Ethiopia 6.66 2019
41 Somalia 0.00 2019

More rankings: Africa | Asia | Central America & the Caribbean | Europe | Middle East | North America | Oceania | South America | World |

Limitations and Exceptions: For most countries central government finance data have been consolidated into one account, but for others only budgetary central government accounts are available. Countries reporting budgetary data are noted in the country metadata. Because budgetary accounts may not include all central government units (such as social security funds), they usually provide an incomplete picture. In federal states the central government accounts provide an incomplete view of total public finance. Data on government revenue and expense are collected by the IMF through questionnaires to member countries and by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Despite IMF efforts to standardize data collection, statistics are often incomplete, untimely, and not comparable across countries.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The IMF's Government Finance Statistics Manual 2014, harmonized with the 2008 SNA, recommends an accrual accounting method, focusing on all economic events affecting assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses, not just those represented by cash transactions. It accounts for all changes in stocks, so stock data at the end of an accounting period equal stock data at the beginning of the period plus flows over the period. The 1986 manual considered only debt stocks. Government finance statistics are reported in local currency. Many countries report government finance data by fiscal year; see country metadata for information on fiscal year end by country.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual