Senegal

Senegal: steady but modest growth, 1980–2025

A relatively stable West African democracy, Senegal's economy centers on agriculture, fishing, and services, with growth accelerating in the 2020s as offshore oil and gas production began. Between 1980 and 2025, Senegal's GDP per capita grew from $772 to $1,955 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 2.1% — steady but modest growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 3.7% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 2.6 points, reflecting relatively stable macroeconomic conditions. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 18.5% to 17.1% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 52.7% to 46.3% of GDP, a comparatively unusual pattern for this period. On human development, life expectancy rose from 48.3 to 68.9 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 2.5% to 15.3%, while the urban population share grew from 36.0% to 55.8%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 0.38 to 0.77 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) narrowed from 54.0 to 36.2; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 77.3% to 17.9%.