Skip to content

Reports · GCRI · Country profile

African Union 2026

Union africaine

The African Union enters 2027 with a growing and young population, an economy that grew 4.1% in 2025 on the World Bank Sub-Saharan Africa measure, and large gaps in the services that tie water, energy, food and health together. In 2024, 55.1% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa had electricity, 22.9% had clean cooking, 32.4% had safely managed drinking water and 25.9% had safely managed sanitation.

Read the editionExposition aux aléas
Constats
12
each with its status and source
Sectors with findings
5 of 6
Infrastructure not assessed
Risk objects
4
order carries no rank
Sources
51
Evidence close 30 September 2026

01 · Readings

African Union in six readings.

Six readings that frame the African Union baseline, and the eight questions this edition answers, each with its status and source.

  • 1.32billionpeople, Sub-Saharan Africa, 2025 [4]
  • 40.4%aged under 15, 2025 [6]
  • 3.2%aged 65 or over, 2025 [7]
  • 44.7%urban population, 2025 [8]
  • 2.21USD trillionGDP, current prices, 2025 [11]
  • 55member statesin the Union at evidence close [1]

02 · Sectors

Six sectors, one hexagon.

Water first, then Energy, Infrastructure, Food, Health and Biodiversity. Each count is the findings of this edition in that sector: coverage of the evidence, never a score. Infrastructure is not assessed: the edition holds no Infrastructure finding and its coupling matrix does not assess it.

  1. WATEau1 finding

    32.4% People using safely managed drinking water, 2024. Déclaré

    32.4% safely managed drinking water; 25.9% safely managed sanitation (2024).

  2. ENEÉnergie3 findings

    55.1% People with access to electricity, 2024. Déclaré

    55.1% with electricity; 22.9% with clean cooking (2024).

  3. INFinfrastructuresnot assessed

    Infrastructure programme is set out in PIDA; asset condition is not assessed here.

  4. FOOAlimentation2 findings

    22.3% Prevalence of undernourishment, 2024. Déclaré

    22.3% undernourished; 49.8% of employment in agriculture.

  5. HLTSanté1 finding

    71.2 per 1,000 Under-5 mortality, per 1,000 live births, 2024. Déclaré

    Under-5 mortality 71.2 per 1,000; life expectancy 62.8 years (2024).

  6. BIOBiodiversité1 finding

    17.3% Land in terrestrial protected areas, 2025. Déclaré

    Protected land 17.3% and sea 7.1% (2025); forest 25.7% of land (2023).

Outside the six sectors: Climate forcing 1, Development 1, Finance 1, Systemic 1.

03 · Hazard exposure

The hazards this edition reads.

The edition’s own risk objects, in its order, each read across driver, exposure, vulnerability, capacity, cascade and horizon. The hexagon marks the sectors the cascade reaches; the domain beside each is an editorial reading of its hazard words.

  • RSK-AU-CLI-001

    Drought across several member states in one season

    InferredEQL 3

    Facteur
    failed rains and heat in several regions at once
    Exposition
    farming households and rain-fed systèmes; 49.8% of employment [15]
    Vulnérabilité
    undernourishment 22.3% [16]
    Capacité
    AU climate strategy [30]; alerte précoce not assessed here
    Cascade
    CLI → FOO, WAT, HLT
    Horizon
    seasonal

    Systèmes d'eauAtmosphère et météo

  • RSK-AU-ENE-002

    Household and clinic power and cooking gaps persist

    DéclaréEQL 3

    Facteur
    slow pace of access gains
    Exposition
    households without electricity or clean cooking
    Vulnérabilité
    55.1% with electricity; 22.9% with clean cooking [17] [18]
    Capacité
    Mission 300 declaration [36]
    Cascade
    ENE → HLT, WAT, FOO
    Horizon
    1 to 5 years

    No domain reading

  • RSK-AU-HLT-003

    Outbreaks cross borders faster than response

    InferredEQL 3

    Facteur
    cholera, mpox and other pathogens
    Exposition
    dense settlements and mobile populations
    Vulnérabilité
    safely managed water 32.4%; sanitation 25.9% [22] [23]
    Capacité
    Africa CDC communiqués in operation [3]
    Cascade
    WAT → HLT → FOO, FIN
    Horizon
    seasonal

    No domain reading

  • RSK-AU-FIN-004

    Uninsured disaster losses reach public budgets

    Expert inputEQL 2

    Facteur
    floods, drought, storms and cyclones
    Exposition
    households and public infrastructure
    Vulnérabilité
    loss and insured-share data not read in this edition
    Capacité
    national schemes; not assessed
    Cascade
    CLI → FIN → public budgets
    Horizon
    annuel

    Systèmes d'eauAtmosphère et météo

Scenario · SCN-AU-CLI-01

Compound drought, price and outbreak year

Under this scenario, results describe a conditional season under stated assumptions. It is not a forecast, and no intervention described here has been carried out.

1 of 12 findings name a hazard in their text. Show them

  1. 1CLI → FOOdrought and heat cut crop and livestock output
  2. 2FOO → HLTprices rise and undernourishment grows
  3. 3CLI → WATlow flows cut safe water supply
  4. 4WAT → HLTunsafe water and weak sanitation raise outbreak risk
  5. 5ENE → HLTpower and cooking gaps limit clinic and household response
  6. 6HLT → FINpublic budgets absorb relief and response costs

04 · Couplings

How the sectors carry risk into each other.

The African Union matrix types the twenty couplings between the five core systèmes. Strengths are Nexus estimates from the cited evidence and analogue events; they set the starting graph that the Q1 2027 Foundry cut will test.

Coupling matrix, from row to column
DeWATENEFOOHLTBIO
WAT·StrongStrongModéréeStrong
ENEModérée·StrongStrongModérée
FOOModéréeWeak·StrongStrong
HLTWeakWeakModérée·Weak
BIOStrongModéréeStrongModérée·

Water: 4 couplings out, 4 in; Energy: 4 couplings out, 4 in; Food: 4 couplings out, 4 in; Health: 4 couplings out, 4 in; Biodiversity: 4 couplings out, 4 in. Infrastructure is not in the coupling matrix: none of the edition matrices types it, so it carries no value.

Cascade paths, in the edition’s order

  1. CLI → FOOdrought and heat cut crop and livestock outputInferred
  2. CLI → WAT → HLTlow flows and heat reduce safe water and raise disease riskInferred
  3. ENE → HLTno power or clean fuel raises household health and clinic riskInferred
  4. FOO → HLTprice and income shocks raise undernourishmentDéclaré
  5. BIO → WAT, FOOforest loss changes water regulation and land useInferred

05 · Findings

Every finding of African Union.

Search, filter by sector, system or status, and sort. The address bar keeps the view, so a filtered list can be shared. Every row opens the finding at its source.

All 12 findings

Findings of African Union
IDÉditionSector or systemStatutStatement
DEV-001Union africaineDEV Développement DéclaréSub-Saharan Africa had 1.32 billion people in 2025, growing 2.4% a year, and 40.4% of them were under 15.
ENE-002Union africaineENE Énergie DéclaréIn 2024, 55.1% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa had electricity, up from 46.4% in 2018; about 579 million had none (derived).
ENE-003Union africaineENE Énergie DéclaréOnly 22.9% of people had access to clean fuels and technologies for cooking in 2024; about 994 million did not (derived).
ENE-004Union africaineENE Énergie DéclaréRenewables supplied 32.6% of electricity output in 2021, the latest year published, and 70.3% of final energy consumption in 2020.
FOO-005Union africaineFOO Alimentation DéclaréThe prevalence of undernourishment was 22.3% in 2024, up from 19.3% in 2018; about 288 million people (derived).
FOO-006Union africaineFOO Alimentation DéclaréAgriculture employed 49.8% of workers in 2024 and produced 18.0% of GDP, so farm shocks reach half the labour force.
WAT-007Union africaineWAT Eau DéclaréIn 2024, 32.4% of people used safely managed drinking water and 25.9% used safely managed sanitation; withdrawals were 3.4% of internal resources in 2022 on average.
HLT-008Union africaineHLT Santé DéclaréUnder-5 mortality fell from 79.0 to 71.2 per 1,000 live births between 2018 and 2024, and life expectancy reached 62.8 years.
FIN-009Union africaineFIN Finance DéclaréGDP was USD 2.21 trillion in 2025 and grew 4.1%, with GDP per person of USD 1,673 in current terms.
BIO-010Union africaineBIO Biodiversité DéclaréProtected areas covered 17.3% of land and 7.1% of territorial waters in 2025, and forest fell from 27.1% to 25.7% of land between 2015 and 2023.
CLI-011Union africaineCLI Climate forcing DéclaréWMO reported 2024 as one of the warmest years on record for Africa, and the warmest decade; CO2 emissions were 0.70 tonnes per person in 2024.
SYS-012Union africaineSYS Systémique Expert inputThe leading compound pathway for 2027 testing is a drought year across several member states, met by high food prices and a disease outbreak.
The full ledger, without scripts

06 · Editions and calendar

The desks’ editions for African Union.

The desks’ editions for African Union
BureauÉditionÉtatIdentifiant
GCRI Systems EvidenceAfrican Union 2026Drafted, in stewardship reviewNR-COUNTRY-AU-2026-BASELINE-v1.0.0
GRF Public DeliberationPublic Deliberation: African Union 2026En préparation
GRA Capital ReadinessCapital Readiness: African Union 2026En préparation
Standards ProgressNo edition in the 2026 Baseline cycleNot in this cycle
Academy CapabilityNo edition in the 2026 Baseline cycleNot in this cycle
Index MeasurementMeasurement: African Union 2026En préparation

Calendar · 2026 Baseline

  1. 01Call opensset by the editor
  2. 02Contribution closeset by the editor
  3. 03Clôture des preuves30 September 2026
  4. 04Desk review and releaseset by the editor
  5. 05Collection compilationset by the editor
  6. 06Collection releaseset by the editor
  7. 07Rectificatifsafter release, as needed

Evidence cut NQ-AU-2026-Q0-1. Next cycles: Q1 2027, Q2 2027, Q3 2027, Q4 2027; their dates are set by the editor.

07 · Take part

Read it, improve it, cite it.

Journal des corrections

Versions and corrections
VersionDateÉtatVariationNotice
NR-COUNTRY-AU-2026-BASELINE-v1.0.0October 2026DRAFTBaseline Edition 2026, inaugural annual edition,aucun
Data gaps3What the repository does not hold yet, and the source proposed for each
Data gaps and proposed sources
ÉcartShown here asProposed source
Exposure values per hazard (people, assets, hectares)the edition’s own risk objects, without valuesthe Index country profile once the Index releases values, risksindex.com/au/
The NHS-1 hazard types and their assignment to this edition’s risk objectsan editorial reading of the hazard wordsthe NHS-1 type assignment through the Registry
Infrastructure in the coupling matrixInfrastructure marked not assessedan Infrastructure row and column in the edition matrix at the next cut
RapportsContribuer

Send evidence or a correction on African Union.

Rapports is the Consortium’s quarterly publication, written by six desks. This page sits with the Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) systèmes Evidence du Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI). Ce que vous savez sur ce sujet peut devenir un élément de preuve, un cas ou une correction dans la prochaine édition, avec mention de votre nom et publication sous licence CC BY 4.0 lorsqu'il s'agit de votre propre travail. Envoyé au mauvais pôle, il est transmis, non refusé.

Pôle Systems Evidence du GCRI

N'envoyez jamais de données personnelles, de détails sensibles sur des infrastructures ni rien que vous n'avez pas le droit de communiquer. Une contribution est examinée avant utilisation ; son envoi ne confère ni qualité d'auteur ni droits éditoriaux, et un parrainage n'achète jamais une conclusion.

CC BY 4.0 Free to read. Text and figures: CC BY 4.0. Data: CC0 1.0. Authors keep copyright. Published by GCRI Canada.