(Countries on the African continent defined as Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cent Afr Rep, Chad, Dem Rep Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equat. Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rep Congo, Reunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe)
Determining the country most similar to the African continent requires considering various social, cultural, economic, and political factors. One way to answer this complex question is by analyzing the data from the Country Similarity Index. The index attempts to quantify how similar countries are to each other relative to other countries, using a variety of statistics from five broad categories: demographics, culture, politics, infrastructure, and geography.
According to the data, Cameroon is the most average African country. In fact, it has both French and English as its official languages, the two most common in Africa. Furthermore, most of its people speak languages from the Niger-Congo family, like almost all other countries in the region. The country is mostly Christian, but it is about 20 percent Muslim as well. It southern portion is mostly rainforest, while its northern portion is hot, dry savanna land. Like much of the region, its infrastructure is not well developed and its standard of living is lower than most countries.
Among countries considered to be part of the African continent, Mauritius the least similar to the average African nation. It is an isolated island in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Madagascar. Around two-thirds of its population has South Asian ancestry. In addition, more people are Hindu than Christian in Mauritius. Furthermore, the country’s government is relatively stable compared to most African nations. Another difference is that its infrastructure and standard of living is relatively high, unlike most countries on the continent. Mauritius also features many unique endemic plants and animals.
It is no surprise that the data suggests that Haiti is by far the most similar country to Africa outside of the continent. It is a former French colony that gained independence in 1804 after a successful slave revolt. The majority of its people still have African ancestry. Furthermore, the country has a tropical climate, like most countries on the continent. Another reason why it is similar to Africa is its infrastructure, since both places are not well-developed and often lack many modern amenities. Unfortunately, most of these nations suffer from high levels of poverty.
The analysis also shows that Japan is by far the least similar country to Africa. Its demographics, culture, and technology are also quite different. While Africa tends to have extremely young populations, Japan’s is the world’s oldest. Unlike most countries in the world, the majority of its people do not follow an Abrahamic religion. The Japanese language also does not use the Latin alphabet. Not only is Japan’s infrastructure much more developed, it drives on the left, uses Type A, B electrical outlets, and has one meter gauge railroad tracks. Furthermore, Japan’s climate is not nearly as hot.
