North Africa leads Africa’s “price of happiness” ranking, with Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria requiring the highest annual incomes before earning more begins to make little difference to life satisfaction.
A 2026 analysis by Remitly puts Egypt’s income-satiation threshold at $59,675 a year, the highest among the 32 African countries covered, followed by Tunisia at $52,424 and Algeria at $48,248.
Djibouti comes a distant fourth at $25,811, narrowly ahead of Comoros at $25,772 and the Central African Republic at $24,557.
The sharp drop between Algeria and Djibouti highlights a clear divide in the continental ranking, with the three North African economies standing well above the rest.
Even so, their thresholds remain considerably below those recorded in several major global markets.
