Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire: steady but modest growth, 1980–2025

The world's largest cocoa producer, Côte d'Ivoire rebuilt strongly after a 2002-11 period of civil conflict and political crisis, becoming one of West Africa's fastest-growing economies through the 2010s. Between 1980 and 2025, Côte d'Ivoire's GDP per capita grew from $1,238 to $3,050 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 2.0% — steady but modest growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 2.8% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 4.5 points, reflecting considerable volatility and periodic crises. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 25.9% to 16.8% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 54.4% to 51.2% of GDP, a comparatively unusual pattern for this period. On human development, life expectancy rose from 51.4 to 62.1 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 2.2% to 12.3%, while the urban population share grew from 37.2% to 54.5%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 0.48 to 0.59 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) narrowed from 45.5 to 35.3; the poverty headcount ratio increased from 13.6% to 20.8%.