`People in Mauritius richest in Africa, Zimbabweans poorest`

New York: People living in Mauritius are the wealthiest individuals in Africa with USD 21,700 in wealth per person while those living in Zimbabwe are the poorest with a per capita wealth of just USD 200, says a report.

According to a report by New World Wealth, Mauritius is the richest country in Africa largely because it provides secure ownership rights.

Other contributing factors to the high average wealth in Mauritius include, migration of a large number of wealthy individuals, low taxes, a thriving financial services sector, low level of government regulation in the business sector and low crime rate.

"It should be noted that all these figures are well below top ranked worldwide countries like Switzerland and Australia, which have wealth per capita's of over USD 200,000," New World Wealth said.

Besides Mauritius, the others in the list of top five wealthiest country in Africa include, South Africa with per capita wealth of USD 10,300 followed by Namibia (USD 10,200), Botswana (USD 8,400) and Gabon (USD 8,100).

The report noted apart from Zimbabwe, all countries listed experienced a rise in per capita wealth during the period between 2000 and 2015.

"Back in 2000, Zimbabwe was one of the wealthiest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa on a wealth per capita basis, ranked ahead of the likes of Nigeria, Kenya, Angola, Zambia and Ghana. However, now it is ranked well behind these countries," the report said.

Interestingly, North African countries such as Algeria, Egypt and Morocco all rank high on the list despite recent instability, the report noted.