IPv4 Address Allocation in Africa: Are you above or Below the IP Address Poverty Line ?

This analysis examines IPv4 address allocation per capita across 56 African countries using data from AfriNIC (African Network Information Centre) resource allocation statistics for 2025. The findings reveal a stark digital divide, with allocation rates varying by a factor of nearly 60,000 between the best and worst-served nations.

The Four-Tier Digital Landscape

Outliers: Islands of Digital Abundance

Seychelles and Mauritius stand dramatically apart from the continental pattern, with IPv4 allocations that are 50-200 times higher than even the next tier of countries.

Seychelles: 60.18 IPv4 addresses per capita

Mauritius: 3.05 IPv4 addresses per capita

These small island nations benefit from well-developed digital infrastructure, tourism-driven economies requiring robust connectivity, and favourable regulatory environments for technology investment. Seychelles' extraordinary allocation of over 60 addresses per person reflects its status as an offshore financial centre and its investment in becoming a regional digital hub. Mauritius, favourable to offshore holding company domicile, is home to some of the largest Pan African IP Backbone networks such as Seacom, WIOCC and Liquid Intelligent Technologies. It also has the highest percentage penetration of fibre connected homes of any African nation.

Digital Leaders: Above Continental Average

10 countries comprising 348 million people (22% of African population) have achieved IPv4 allocations above the continental average, ranging from 0.10 to 0.64 per capita:

Tunisia(0.64) leads this tier, followed by Réunion (0.42), South Africa (0.42), Morocco (0.32), Egypt (0.20), Gabon (0.15), Namibia (0.13), Kenya (0.11), Algeria (0.10), and Gambia (0.10).

These nations share common characteristics:

- Relatively developed telecommunications infrastructure

- Growing tech sectors and startup ecosystems

- Government policies supporting digital transformation

- Higher GDP per capita (with notable exceptions like Kenya and Gambia, which punch above their economic weight)

Collectively, this tier controls 72% of allocated IPv4 addresses (83.8 million) while representing only 22% of the population.

Emerging: Building Digital Foundations

25 countries with 765 million people (49% of population) fall into the "Emerging" category, with IPv4 allocations between 0.01 and 0.07 per capita.

Notable countries include Nigeria (Africa's largest economy and most populous nation), Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Angola, Sudan, Tanzania, and Cameroon.

Despite representing nearly half of Africa's population, this tier accounts for only 16% of allocated IPv4 addresses (19.1 million). The average allocation of 0.035 per capita is still seven times better than the poverty tier but represents significant underserving relative to population size.

This category shows the greatest potential for growth, as many nations are actively investing in digital infrastructure and mobile connectivity is expanding rapidly.

Below the IPv4 Poverty Line: The Digital Desert

19 countries with 435 million people (28% of population) languish in severe IPv4 poverty, with allocations below 0.01 per capita.

This tier includes some of Africa's most populous nations: Ethiopia, DR Congo, Niger, Chad, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and the Central African Republic (which has the lowest allocation at just 0.001 per capita—one address per 1,000 people).

Despite representing more than one-quarter of Africa's population, these countries share only 1% of allocated IPv4 addresses (1.2 million addresses). The average allocation of 0.004 per capita means roughly one IPv4 address for every 250 people.

Many of these nations face compounding challenges:

- Political instability and conflict

- Limited infrastructure investment

- Geographic challenges (landlocked, vast territories)

- Low GDP and poverty

- Lower literacy rates affecting digital adoption

Key Insights and Implications

The Magnitude of Digital Inequality

The disparity is staggering: Seychelles has 59,000 times more IPv4 addresses per capita than the Central African Republic. Even comparing Digital Leaders to the IPv4 Poverty tier shows a 60-fold difference in allocation.

Population vs. Resources Mismatch

A troubling pattern emerges when comparing population distribution to resource allocation:

- 22% of population (Digital Leaders) controls 72% of IPv4 addresses

- 28% of population (IPv4 Poverty tier) controls 1% of IPv4 addresses

This means the average person in a Digital Leader country has access to approximately 200 times more IPv4 resources than someone in an IPv4-poor nation.

The Mobile-First Paradox

Africa has one of the world's fastest-growing mobile phone adoption rates, yet IPv4 allocation doesn't reflect this growth. This suggests:

- Heavy reliance on carrier-grade NAT (Network Address Translation)

- Potential constraints on peer-to-peer applications and services

- Challenges for Internet of Things (IoT) deployment

- Barriers to hosting and entrepreneurship

Small Nations, Big Allocations

Gambia, despite being one of Africa's smallest and poorest nations, has achieved Digital Leader status (0.097 per capita). This demonstrates that economic size isn't destiny—focused policy and smart infrastructure investment can overcome traditional barriers.

The Nigeria Question

Despite being Africa's largest economy and most populous country, Nigeria falls into the Emerging category with just 0.017 IPv4 addresses per capita. With over 232 million people, Nigeria's under allocation represents one of the continent's largest gaps between economic/demographic weight and digital infrastructure.

The IPv6 Imperative

While this analysis focuses on IPv4, the severe scarcity evident in these numbers underscores the critical importance of IPv6 adoption across Africa. With IPv4 addresses exhausted globally, countries in the Emerging and Poverty tiers face two choices:

1. Remain constrained by expensive, increasingly scarce IPv4 addresses

2. Leapfrog to IPv6 infrastructure, potentially bypassing the IPv4 bottleneck

The vast address space of IPv6 could be transformative for African nations, enabling direct connectivity for billions of devices without the complexity and performance penalties of extensive NAT systems.

Recommendations

For Policy Makers:

- Prioritize IPv6 adoption in national ICT strategies

- Invest in Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) to reduce dependency on expensive international bandwidth

- Enable new private sector entrants to become licenced where applicable

- Implement policies encouraging local content hosting and development

For AfriNIC and Regional Organizations:

- Provide technical assistance and training for IPv6 deployment

- Facilitate resource sharing and peering agreements

- Support Internet infrastructure development in underserved regions

For the Private Sector:

- Invest in infrastructure in Emerging and Poverty-tier markets

- Develop business models suited to constrained address environments

- Partner with governments on digital inclusion initiatives

Conclusion

Africa's IPv4 allocation patterns reveal a continent at a digital crossroads. While leaders like Tunisia, South Africa, and the island nations demonstrate what's possible, the vast majority of Africans live in countries with severe digital infrastructure constraints.

The silver lining is that Africa's relative latecomer status to internet infrastructure could become an advantage: rather than managing the complex transition from IPv4 to IPv6, many African nations can build IPv6-native networks from the ground up. This leapfrogging potential, combined with mobile-first innovation and growing regional interconnection, suggests that today's IPv4 poverty need not determine tomorrow's digital destiny.

However, realizing this potential requires coordinated action from governments, regional organizations, private sector, and the international community to ensure that all Africans can participate fully in the digital economy.

Analysis based on AfriNIC resource allocation statistics https://stats.afrinic.net/country/ and 2025 population data https://www.worldometers.info/population/countries-in-africa-by-population/#google_vignette. IPv4 per capita calculated as total allocated IPv4 addresses divided by national population.