Africa Development Data Explorer (ADDaX)

Africa Development Data Explorer (ADDaX) provides access to reference data from 54 African economies. The data covers financial and economic information from these countries to be used for research. ADDaX aggregates data, translates where necessary, and compiles data in a standardized format to provide users with direct access. ADDaX is powered by the African Financial & Economic Data’s (AFED) Database, which serves the coporate market. 

According to East View, data is collected from local and regional African sources as well as international sources. Sources include:

• International, intergovernmental, multilateral and supranational
• African regional and state banks, statistical offices, and information agencies
• Trade organizations, government departments, agencies & NGOs
• African central bank, African Country Ministries of Finance, and National Office of Statistics

This database is a data source only, and it does not include any accompanying reports or other material that may have been published along with the tabular data. To view the source list, click here.

The database includes country profiles with over 50,000 indicators, 2.5 million records, and covering 54 African countries. Data covers a variety of sectors, including: education, trade, banking, and physical infrastructure, industries, urbanization, and quality of life. The country data is available from as far back as records allow, some indicators date back to the 1940's.

All data is updated daily and available under 3 packages:

1. Data Hub

The Data Hub allows users to query each of the available seven datasets individually, produce time series analysis, extract customised reports and commingle datasets. The data is reported as published by the source and categorized into 13 main groups to enable quick and easy access to specific data points:

• National Accounts
• Government Finance
• Money & Banking
• Inflation, Prices & Wages
• Balance of Payments & Trade
• Total Debt: Domestic & External
• Business & Industry
• Resources & Energy
• Employment, Income & Poverty
• Politics, Government & Society
• Population & Health
• Education
• Geography & Environment

2. Country Profile

The Country Profile series provides in-depth coverage of economic data for each of the 54 African countries. Country profiles include conventional indicators such as GDP Growth and Domestic and External Debt; but also draws on country-specific economic data indicators in 13 categories:

• National Accounts
• Government Finance
• Money and Banking
• Inflation, Prices and Wages
• Balance of Payments and Trade
• Total Debt: Domestic and External
• Politics, Government & Society
• Business & Industry
• Resources & Energy
• Employment, Income & Poverty
• Population & Health
• Education
• Geography & Environment

Country Profiles emphasize local sources of data, with information going back to 2000. Depending on the source, data availability may vary. ADDaX focuses on Monthly, Quarterly and Annual updates. 

3. Sector Focus

The Sector Focus package provides access to economic and financial indicators for specific sectors of interest. ADDaX currently covers 15 sectors:

• Agriculture, Fishing & Farming
• Automotive & Transportation
• Education
• Employment, Income & Poverty
• Energy
• Environment & Infrastructure
• Financial Sector
• Governance, Politics and Violence
• Health & Pharmaceuticals
• Information & Communications Technology (ICT)
• Manufacturing, Retail & Wholesale
• Population
• Real Estate, Building & Construction
• Trade
• Travel & Tourism

The number of indicators varies from one sector to another and from country to country. ADDaX focuses on local sources and complements the data with international sources to ensure data quality.

Content Comparison 

CRL conducted a comparative analysis of the ADDaX holdings against those of open source repositories including: Worldbank's open data, International Monetary Fund data, and the UK Data Service. CRL found no significant overlaps in the data held in these repositories and the ADDaX content. ADDaX provides access to a significant number of documents sourced from private and goverment financial institutions of African countries published between 1995 and 2017 that are not openly available in other reliable online resources.