Africa - Organised Crime Index

About the Index

The ENACT Organised Crime Index is a multi-dimensional tool that measures both the level of countries’ criminality and their resilience to organised crime.

The objective of the Index is to provide guidance to policymakers and continental regional bodies to prioritise their interventions on the basis of a holistic assessment of where vulnerabilities lie, and provide them with the means to measure the efficacy of their interventions. Developed over a two-year period, the Index draws from both quantitative and qualitative sources, and is underpinned by over 200 expert assessments. The ENACT programme aims to encourage international and regional communities to move away from a solely criminal-justice-led response to organised crime, and towards a more comprehensive package of policies that can help mitigate the impact of organised crime, build local resilience and limit incentives for market participants. For more information about ENACT, visit enactafrica.org.

About ENACT

The European Union (EU) has placed security in Africa at the forefront of its international agenda, notably though its Pan-African Programme – the first programme of its kind to centre on development and cooperation, and covering Africa as a whole. One project under the Pan-African Programme is ENACT: Enhancing Africa’s capacity to respond more effectively to transnational organised crime. ENACT works to mitigate the impact of transnational organised crime (TOC) in Africa on development, governance, security and the rule of law. It achieves this in two ways: firstly, by building knowledge and offering evidence-based analysis of TOC in Africa, which will inform policy and enhance cooperation at the regional and continental level. Secondly, ENACT builds skills and capacity among key African stakeholders to better respond to transnational organised crime and mitigate its impact.

Index scores

Structure

The Index measures criminality and resilience for each country on a scale of 1 to 10. Countries’ criminality scores are made up of the average scores of ten criminal markets and four criminal actor types. Criminal market scores consider the scope, scale, value and reach (i.e. non-monetary impact) of each illicit economy. Criminal actor scores consider the structure, control and influence of each criminal actor type. The higher the criminality score a country has, the more severe its criminality conditions are.

Resilience scores are created by taking the average of 12 resilience indicators. These indicators represent a range of areas from which organised-crime response measures are developed – from politics and criminal justice, to economics and social fields. Unlike criminality, the higher the resilience score a country has, the more effective its response measures are to organised crime.

All Index scores have gone through extensive rounds of review and verification by experts on organised crime and by geographic experts, to ensure these numbers make sense in the real-world context in order to offer users the means to develop informed policies to counter organised crime.

Africa overall score for

Criminality

5.170.20

Sort and compare

More about the Rankings

While organised crime and responses differ from country to country, organised crime is nevertheless a global problem. Under both the criminality and resilience components of the Index, countries are ranked based on their scores in order to offer users the option for comparative analysis across the African continent. Above all, country rankings are meant to start a conversation among policymakers and regional bodies, encouraging them to delve deeper into how and why organised crime affects their respective countries, and learn from one another in order to develop effective resilience strategies.

Country with highest Criminality score

Democratic Republic of the Congo

7.750.46

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Criminality

7.75

Criminal market

6.50

Criminal Actors

9.00

Resilience

2.29

Country with lowest Criminality score

São Tomé and Príncipe

1.78-0.10

São Tomé and Príncipe

Criminality

1.78

Criminal market

1.80

Criminal Actors

1.75

Resilience

4.92

Country with highest Resilience score

Cabo Verde

6.33-0.21

Cabo Verde

Criminality

4.04

Criminal market

3.70

Criminal Actors

4.38

Resilience

6.33

Country with lowest Resilience score

Libya

1.54-0.59

Libya

Criminality

6.55

Criminal market

6.10

Criminal Actors

7.00

Resilience

1.54

Region with highest Criminality score

East Africa

5.660.15

East Africa

Criminality

5.66

Criminal market

5.19

Criminal Actors

6.13

Resilience

3.54

Region with lowest Criminality score

Southern Africa

4.670.23

Southern Africa

Criminality

4.67

Criminal market

4.43

Criminal Actors

4.91

Resilience

4.18

Region with highest Resilience score

Southern Africa

4.18-0.09

Southern Africa

Criminality

4.67

Criminal market

4.43

Criminal Actors

4.91

Resilience

4.18

Region with lowest Resilience score

Central Africa

3.210.26

Central Africa

Criminality

5.11

Criminal market

4.80

Criminal Actors

5.43

Resilience

3.21

Country Profiles

Detailed data about the 54 African countries

In addition to the scores and rankings, the Organised Crime Index website allows users to explore country profiles that explain the context behind each country’s scores. Country profiles outline scores for each component (i.e. criminality and resilience), subcomponent (i.e. criminal markets and criminal actors) and indicators. The country profiles also provide background information on each specific country context, and highlight key trends based on expert assessments.

Pyramid height

The criminal actors score is represented by the Pyramid height on a scale ranging from 1 to 10.

Pyramid width

The criminal markets score is represented by the Pyramid base size on a scale ranging from 1 to 10.

Panel height

The resilience score is represented by the Panel height which can be identified by the side of the Panel.

Data Explorer

Make your own comparisons

The Organised Crime Index offers a holistic framework of a country’s overall relationship to organised crime. At the same time, its subcomponents and indicators allow users to disaggregate such information and determine correlations with various impact areas in any given country and/or region. Policymakers and other users are able to compare data geographically, substantively and, with future iterations of the Index, temporally, so that they can identify key trends.

Made by people

Acknowledgments

The Organised Crime Index was developed by a core team at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime: Laura Adal, Lyes Tagziria, Kosyo Ivanov, Nina Kaysser, Tuesday Reitano, and Mark Shaw. Index development was also supported by Susanna Deetlefs, as Regional Coordinator. Credit to the GI-TOC Publications team and to Café.art.br for the design, visualisation and website. In the process of developing the second iteration of the tool, the team drew on the support and expertise of over 200 people and would like to express their sincere gratitude to colleagues, experts, reviewers and research assistants for their tireless efforts to expand on the 2019 Index to build a comprehensive and informative knowledge-sharing tool. Over a two-year period, experiences and informed opinions were exchanged, and lessons learned in order to capture data and information amid the unique set of circumstances of the global pandemic. It is with great hope that the tool allows for greater buy-in and collaboration in future iterations to build a larger evidence base from which stakeholders may draw in order to develop effective responses and ultimately successfully combat organised crime both in Africa and beyond.

Final opinions, findings and conclusions do not necessarily constitute or imply expert endorsements, nor do they necessarily represent their respective institutions.

Technical reference group

David Hammond
The Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP)
Dr Fiona M Underwood
Independent Statistical Researcher/Consultant
Jan Hofmeyr
Afrobarometer
Jeremy McDermott
InSight Crime
Jonathan D Moyer, PhD
Director, Frederick S Pardee Center for International Futures
Robin Cartwright
Senior Fellow, GI-TOC
Sara Batmanglich
-
Yannick Vuylsteke
Former Head of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance

Research Assistants

Adriana Reinecke
Aldo Liga
Aleksandra Hall
Alexander Scragg
Alexandra Smidman
Ali Zoubeidi
Angelica Gottlieb
Anita Gossmann
Annabelle Hahn
Anton MacFadyen
Arda Akartuna
Beatriz Andrea Quintero Caceres
Bram Van Wiele
Clare Profous
Claudia Wallner
Clemence Bigot
Daniela Sota Valdivia
Desirée Brandão
Edona Musliu
Fabio Seferi
Faith Tunde-Yara
Fakhri Mansour
Geng Li
Hannah Wallace
Harriet Cartwright
Heike Koehler
Ida-Maria Herdieckerhoff
Idriss Boumehdi
Intan Hadidinata
Izabella Vieira Lopes
Jack Moss
Jacob Thaler
James Adebayo
Jan Eijking
Joritse Onuwaje
Joy Teddy-Jimoh
Julius Kaka
Kristen Olver
Kyle Walter
Laura Brody
Laura Telenta
Leiysa Byrne
Lia Johansen
Luisa Maria Acosta
Maria Antonia Mier Portillo
Maria Galanakis
Mariana Stark
Mathias Bak
Matthew Spivack
Michael McLaggan
Mildred Rodríguez Bentron
Milica Radovic
Mohamad Sheikh
Nanar Hawach
Nicole El Helou
Nicole Helou
Nicole Kalczynski
Nikki Ramos
Olga Biegus
Olivia Baneth
Perkha Traxl
Rachel Mackenna
Rahel Kibru
Ross Field
Sara Canto
Stella Guesnet
Susan Knifed
Teresa Iglesias
Tim Spalding
Wilson Nderitu
Xavier Tayupanta

Experts

Abdeta D Beyene, PhD
Executive Director, Centre for Dialogue, Research and Cooperation
Abdiaziz Ismail
Independent Migration Expert
Abdoulaye Diallo
Manager of the National Press Centre in Burkina Faso.
Abdullah Almutairi, PhD
Visiting Academic, Oxford University and Head of the Law Department, Alyamamah University
Abel Abate Demissie
Political Analyst, Ethiopia and the Horn
Abigail Gyimah
Ghana Integrity Initiative, Ghana
Adel Hmaizia
Chatham House
Agnes Ebo’o
-
Akizi-Egnim Akala
-
Alan Martin
Sechaba Consulting
Alastair Nelson
Senior Fellow, GI-TOC
Albert Mbatiem
University of Dschang, Cameroon
Alexandre Bish
Senior Analyst, GI-TOC
Allan Ngari
Regional Organised Crime Observatory Coordinator for West Africa, ENACT
Amanda Rude
Independent consultant
Andreia Teixeira
Programme Manager for West Africa, GI-TOC
Anne-Marie Hildson
-
Arezo Malakooti
-
Ariane De Palacio
International Centre for the Prevention of Crime (CIPC)
Assis Malaquias, PhD
Professor and Chair, Global Studies and Maritime Affairs
Axel Klein
ACK Consultants
Benjamin Spatz
-
Brad Brooks-Rubin
Global Director, Development and Beneficiation, for the Gemological Institute of America
Catherine Moat
Project Manager, ISS
Cathy Haenlein
Director, Organised Crime and Policing, Royal United Services Institute
Charles Goredema
Consultant on Financial & Economic Crime
Cheikh Toure
UNODC
Chiara Fall
-
Chris Horwood
Director, Ravenstone Consult
Christopher Changwe Nshimbi, PhD
Director & Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation and Senior Lecturer, University of Pretoria
Christopher Karlsson
Small Arms Survey
Ciara Aucoin
-
Claire Adionyi
Strathmore University
Claudia Seymour
Research Associate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva and
Clement Sefa-Nyarko
Research, Evaluation and Learning Manager, Participatory Development Associates, Accra-Ghana
Constanze Blum
Researcher at Leipzig University
Dalaya Ashenafi
Economic Transformation and Youth, Ethiopian Program Interlocutor-Big Win Philanthropy, Ethiopia
Dr Dalia Ghanem
Resident Scholar, Carnegie Middle East Center
David Izadifar
Regional Criminal Information Advisor, UNODC
Delfin Mocache Massoko
-
Dennis Jjuuko
Associate at the Uganda Council on Foreign Relations, Uganda
Deo Gumba
Civil Society Coordinator, GI-TOC
Dr Derica Lambrechts
Stellenbosch University
Drew McVey
East Africa Wildlife Crime Advisor, WWF Kenya
Emadeddin Badi
Senior Analyst, GI-TOC
Emilie Serralta
Director, Serralta Consulting
Emma Senge Wobuke
-
Eric Pelser
Programme Head, ENACT, ISS
Erica Marsh
Research Consultant
Etannibi Alemika
University of Jos, Nigeria
Dr Eugene Arnaud Yombo Sembe
Expert, Central Africa and Great Lakes
Eugénio Costa Almeida, PhD
Researcher, Center for International Studies (ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa)
Farai Maguwu
Centre for Natural Resource Governance
Fatma Ali
Associate Professor – United States International University
Francesco Strazzari
Research fellow, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
Gabriela Flores Zavala
Independent Consultant
Gaseikanngwe Peke
-
George Sunguh
Independent consultant – Sea port
DrGilles Olakunle Yabi
Founder and Executive Director, West Africa Citizen Think Tank (WATHI)
Dr Giulia Cimini
Scholar and Researcher in democratic transitions in Tunisia and Morocco
Graeme MacFadyen
Poseidon Consultants
Gugu Dube
-
Henri-Lucien Ticky
CEMAC National representation in Cameroon
Iris Oustinoff
Network Coordination Officer, GI-TOC
Jackson Miller
Independent consultant
Jacqueline Cochrane
-
Jakkie Cilliers
ISS
Jalel Harchaoui
Senior Fellow, GI-TOC
James Smith
Point East
Jamie Hitchen
-
Jason Eligh
Senior Expert, GI-TOC
Jay Bahadur
Researcher, GI-TOC
Jean Kambuni
Eastern Africa Resilience Innovation Hub/TCH
Jens Pedersen
MSF
Jihane Ben Yahia
-
DrJimam Lar
University of Jos, Nigeria
John Coyne
Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Border Security Program.
DrJohn Endres
-
John Sellar
Senior Advisor, GI-TOC
Joyce Kimani
Observatory Coordinator for East and Horn of Africa, GI-TOC
Julia Stanyard
Analyst, GI-TOC
Julian Rademeyer
Director, ESA-Obs, GI-TOC
Julius Kaka
Research Consultant, GI-TOC
Karl Lagerstadt
-
Katharine Petrich
Visiting Researcher in the National Security Affairs department at Naval Postgraduate School
DrKathryn Sturman
Senior Research Fellow, Sustainable Minerals Institute, The University of Queensland
Ken Opala
Senior Analyst, GI-TOC
Kristina Amerhauser
Programme Manager, GI-TOC
Prof Kwesi Aning
Director, Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Accra
Lealem M Abebe
Researcher
Luc Damiba Youlouka
CENOZO Investigative Reporting in West Africa
Luca Raineri
Research fellow, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies
Lucia Bird
Director, WEA-Obs, GI-TOC
Dr Lucy Hovil
-
Luis Franceschi
Dean – Starthmore University
Luis Nhachote
Executive Coordinator of Centro de Jornalismo Investigativo, Mozambique
DrLuz-Helena Hanauer
International economic law consultant
Madeleine Ngeunga
Investigative journalist
Maram Mahdi
Institute for Security Studies
Marcena Hunter
Senior Analyst, GI-TOC
Maria Urbas
-
Marija Atanaskova
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
Mark Micallef
Director, NAS-Obs, GI-TOC
Markus Burgener
TRAFFIC
Martin Ewi
ISS
Mathias Shipeta
Haki Africa (on behalf of Hussein Khalid)
Matt Herbert
Research Manager, NAS-Obs, GI-TOC
Matthias Novak
Small Arms Survey
Dr Maurice Ogbonnaya
Senior Fellow, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Nigeria
Meressa Kahsu
Senior Researcher and Training Coordinator, Peace Operation and Peacebuilding, ISS
Messay Asgedom Gobena
Ph.D. Candidate in Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University
Michael McLaggan
Analyst, GI-TOC
Minas Feseha
Programme Director, Non-State Actors Coalition, (NSAC) and Consultant, African Peace and Security Programme (APSP), Ethiopa
Mohamed Daghar
Regional Coordinator, Eastern Africa, ISS ENACT
Mohamed Haji Abdullahi
University of Oxford
Mohammed Akunjee
Solicitor
Monique de Graaff
Head of Administration, GI-TOC South Africa
Mouhamadou Kane
-
Moussa Aksar
Investigative journalist
Moussa Soumahoro
West Africa/Sahel Conflict and Organised Crime Analyst
Mu'azu Umaru
Director, Policy & Research, GIABA
Muhammad al-Kashef
Human rights lawyer and consultant researcher
Muteru Ndumo (Alfred)
King's College London
Naji Abou-Khalil
NORIA Research
Neil Carrier
University of Bristol
Nelson Alusala
-
Nick Lewis OBE
Standard Chartered
Ntibinyane Ntibinyane
Investigative journalist
Ntono Tsimi Germain
University of Yaounde
Octave Bayili
-
Olufemi Balogun
Manager, Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning, LEAP Africa, Nigeria
Ottilia A. Maunganidze
ISS
Patricio R. Estévez-Soto
University College London: Organised Crime Research Network
Pauline Verheij
Independent Consultant, EcoJust
Peter Gastrow
Senior Advisor, GI-TOC
Pierre Fruhling
ENACT Advisory Board member
Piers Pigou
Crisis Group - Southern Africa
Randrianarisoa Riana Raymonde
Independent journalist, Madagascar
Raouf Farrah
Senior Analyst, GI-TOC
Raymond Baker
Global Financial Integrity (GFI)
Renata Giannini
Igarapé Institute
Rene Oyono
-
Richard Chelin
-
Dr Richard Obinna Iroanya
Associate Dean, School of Military Science, University of Namibia
Rim Dhaouadi
Attorney at Law (Tunis Bar) and Independent Consultant
Rodrigo Avila
Rapporteur of the Public Security and Drug Enforcement Committee
Rupert Horsley
Senior Analyst, GI-TOC
Ruth Bolline Aluoch
"Research and Training, International Peace Support Training Centre, Nairobi-Kenya
Ruth Gursch-Adam
Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy
Sam Ratner
Columbia University
Samantha McCormack
UNHCR
Dr Sami Bensassi
Reader in Development Economics, University of Birmingham
Samuel Oyimafu Asimi
Program Specialist, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) / Transparency International Nigeria
Dr Sasha Jesperson
-
Sébastien Hervieu
Journalist, Abidjan
Simone Haysom
Senior Analyst, GI-TOC
Singo S. Mwachofi
Lecturer, University of Nairobi and Deputy Director, Security Research and Information Centre (SRIC), Nairobi.
Siri Bjune
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Solomon Zebede
Sahan
Suliman Baldo
Rift Valley fellows
DrTerence McNamee
-
Thierry Vircoulon
French Institute for International Affairs
Thomas P. Wolf
-
Timothy Walker
-
Tom Bowker
Editor, Zitamar News
Tomas Maule
Researcher / Investigator
Uta Staschewski
Head – HSF East Africa
Vel Moonien
Senior News Editor
Virginia Comolli
Research Manager, GI-TOC
William Assanvo
-
Willie Oelofse
-
Dr Willis Okumu
Senior Researcher, East Africa, ENACT
Zachary Donnenfeld
-
Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh
Women for a Change (Wfac), Cameroon