Skip to Main Content

African Business & Economic Resources

Country and Regional Resources

Map of Africa showing countries and major cities

Central Intelligence Agency. Africa. 2012. Library of Congress Geography and Map Division.

Africa is large and diverse, geographically and economically. In addition to researching individual nations, it may be helpful to research by region. The United Nations Statistics Divisions External divides Africa into the following regions:

Northern Africa 

Sub-Saharan Africa

Eastern Africa

Middle Africa

Southern Africa

Western Africa

Economic regions are not clearly defined, as nations may belong to multiple regional economic organizations. The African Union (AU) External recognizes 8 Regional Economic Communities (RECs) that are listed below.

Additionally, in academia Northern Africa is often grouped with the Middle East and referred to by the acronym MENA (Middle East/North Africa). You may also see the acronyms BRICS; which refers to the intergovernmental investment organization but can also denote its member nations--Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa; and MINT referring to the emerging market economies of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey.

Resources on these various regions are listed below. Many of the resources listed on the General Resources page of this guide provide information by region or country as well.

Regions and countries can also be searched in the Library's catalog. Please see the Search the Library's Catalog page of this guide for tips on how to browse by Library of Congress Subject Headings.

Northern Africa

The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are included when available.

E-books are available digitally at the the Library of Congress either through our in-house repository STACKS or through subscription databases such as Taylor & Francis eBooksSpringer-Link and others. Free open source e-books may also be available.

The following links are to websites about Northern Africa economic development. 

Sub-Saharan Africa

E-books are available digitally at the the Library of Congress either through our in-house repository STACKS or through subscription databases such as Taylor & Francis eBooksSpringer-Link and others. Free open source e-books may also be available.

The following links are to websites about Sub-Saharan economic development.