Regional Economic Communities

Explore the Regional Economic Communities

  • AMU: Arab Maghreb Union 
  • CEN–SAD: Community of Sahel–Saharan States 
  • COMESA: Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa 
  • EAC: East African Community 
  • ECCAS: Economic Community of Central African States 
  • ECOWAS: Economic Community of West African States 
  • IGAD: Intergovernmental Authority on Development 
  • SADC: Southern African Development Community 

Headline Findings

High score

The highest mark on overall regional integration is scored by the East African Community (EAC). Although EAC is Africa’s leader, however, it only occupies a little more than half of the area of the graph. Even EAC has ample room to grow.

Low score

The lowest score for overall regional integration goes to the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Balance between dimensions

The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU), followed by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), achieves the best balance between the dimensions of regional integration. The greatest discrepancy between dimensions is observed for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), whose scores range from 0.733 on the free movement of people dimension to 0.220 on the productive dimension.