Mauritius, Seychelles among most capitalist nations in Africa according to new index

Mauritius, Seychelles and Botswana are the most capitalist countries in Africa, according to a new ranking published last week and reported by Agence Ecofin.

The Global Capitalism Index was established by researchers at the University of Virginia in the United States.

Using data going from 2009 to 2025, it studies the economic and institutional characteristics of 161 countries to assess the quality of these countries' market systems.

To do so, the authors appraise several factors, or subindices, including countries' banking sectors, market competition or free flow of capital and goods.

The researchers define capitalism as "a system that privileges the ability to deploy capital in open markets as freely as possible, while minimizing constraints from both public and private sources."

Switzerland tops the global ranking, ahead of the US and Hong Kong.

Coming in 48th place, Mauritius is the highest African nation in the Index, followed by Seychelles in 50th and Botswana in 52nd place.

Namibia (59th), Cape-Verde (66th), Rwanda (74th) or Morocco (85th) are also among the 10 highest ranked on the continent.