Lagos Drops From 4th To 5th Among Wealthiest Cities In Africa

Lagos, renowned as the industrial and economic hub of West Africa, has slipped to fifth place among Africa’s wealthiest cities, according to the latest Africa Wealth Report 2024 by Henley & Partners.

The city now hosts 4,200 millionaires, a decrease from the 5,400 recorded last year, indicating a significant reduction of 1,200 high-net-worth individuals.

Despite this drop, Lagos remains a central node in Africa’s economic landscape, housing over half of Nigeria’s millionaires.

The city is pivotal for major African multinationals like the Dangote Group and Zenith Bank, with key sectors including basic materials, oil and gas, transport, and financial services.

The top four cities in the 2024 rankings are Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa, Cairo in Egypt, and Nairobi in Kenya, boasting 12,300, 7,400, 7,200, and 4,400 millionaires respectively.

In contrast, cities like Dar Es Salaam, Tangier, Algiers, Grand Baie, and Kigali rank at the lower end of the list, each with fewer than 1,200 millionaires.

Despite the current figures, the outlook for Africa’s high-net-worth population is optimistic.

The report forecasts a robust growth of 65 percent in the number of millionaires across the continent by 2030, driven by economic expansion in several key cities.

“We expect the key wealth-creating industries to be fintech, eco-tourism, business process outsourcing, software development, rare metals mining, green tech, media and entertainment, and wealth management,” H & P noted.