The latest results from Africascope 2019 provide valuable information on internet and social media usage. The results are particularly instructive when looking at developments over the past year.
First observation
: Contrary to the commonly held belief that internet use is growing significantly and steadily in Africa, Africascope's results show that it is stagnating in most countries, and at fairly low levels at that.
Second observation
: Three countries stand out with significant growth:
Burkina Faso, which has grown by 50% in one year, from 14% of users at least once a month to 21%.
Côte d'Ivoire, which has grown from 27% to 39%, an increase of 44% in one year.
Senegal, which is the only country to exceed 50%, rising from 46% to 56% in one year (+22%).
Third observation:
social media use is the main reason for Internet use, as more than 90% of frequent Internet users have at least one social media account.
4th observation
: WhatsApp grew significantly between the first half of 2018 and the first half of 2019, to the point that it caught up with Facebook and even surpassed it in some countries such as Senegal and Mali
5th observation:
Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are used by a small minority of Internet users (less than 15% except in Senegal) and lag far behind Facebook and WhatsApp
. Proportion of internet users at least once a month H1 2018 H1 2019
Senegal 46 56
CI 27 39
DRC 32 35
Cameroon 31 34
Gabon 32 31
Mali 28 34
BF 14 21
Congo 23 22
At least one account in the first half of 2019 – TOP3 FACEBOOK WHATSAPP INSTAGRAM
SENEGAL 44 53 18
CI 34 31 13
DRC 29 26 8
CAMEROON 31 29 12
GABON 28 28 10
MALI 27 30 7
BF 19 17 4
CONGO 19 15 7
Source: Africascope waves 1st half of 2018 and 1st half of 2019 Africascope takes place in the main cities of eight French-speaking African countries: Burkina Faso (Ouagadougou), Cameroon (Yaounde and Douala), Ivory Coast (Abidjan), Gabon (Libreville), Mali (Bamako), Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), Senegal (Dakar), Republic of Congo (Brazzaville)