(The following countries are considered to be part of the Sub-Saharan African region: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe)
Determining the countries most similar to Sub-Saharan Africa 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 Sub-Saharan 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. Its 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.
It is no surprise that the data suggests that Haiti is the most similar country outside of the region to Sub-Saharan Africa. 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 in Sub-Saharan Africa. Another reason why it is similar to Sub-Saharan 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 Sub-Saharan Africa. Its demographics, culture, and technology are also quite different. While Sub-Saharan 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.
