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Claim: A Facebook user posted a list of the “most educated countries in Africa,” with Nigeria ranked first.
Verdict: False! Reputable international organisations consistently rate Seychelles as a top performer among African countries, based on recent data that ranks educational levels using metrics like literacy rates and the Human Development Index (HDI).
Full Text
On August 24, 2025, a Facebook account called Comedic Memes shared a list of what it claims are the most educated countries in Africa. The post ranks Nigeria as number one, followed by several other African countries.
The post reads, “THE MOST EDUCATED COUNTRIES IN AFRICA 1. Nigeria 2. Morocco 3. Egypt 4. Algeria 5. Seychelles 6. Mauritius 7. Tunisia 8. Kenya 9. Botswana 10. Ghana.”
As of Aug. 26, 2025, the post had garnered significant engagement, including 19 likes and 25 comments. The ranking has sparked counteropinions and sarcastic comments from other users with South African-related names.
One of the users, Muziwokuthula Mashazi, commented, “But we all know this is fake, we are much more educated than you, you know that.”
Chris also wrote, “Bro SA is number 1. I have seen this list 6 times already in other groups. (sic)”
The post was shared by another Facebook user here.
DUBAWA decided to fact-check the claims to clarify the current level of education on the continent and to avoid misinformation.
Verification
While determining a single or universally accepted method to rank the most educated countries can be complex, organisations such as the United Nations and the World Bank commonly use key metrics, including literacy rates and the education component of the Human Development Index (HDI), to assess educational attainment.
Therefore, we reviewed the World Population Review’s Literacy Rate by Country 2025. Our findings reveal that the Seychelles has the highest literacy rate at 95.9% among African countries, followed by Equatorial Guinea (95.3%), South Africa (95%), São Tomé and Principe (94.8%), Namibia (92.3%), and Mauritius (92.2%), among others. Similar ratings can also be found on Data Pandas and The African Exponent.
The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Index (HDI) measures a country’s education dimension by assessing the mean years of schooling for adults aged 25 years and above and the expected years of education for children of school-entering age.
In the UNDP 2023 HDI rankings for the Sub-Saharan Africa Region, Seychelles had the highest score with 0.848 points, followed by Mauritius (0.806), South Africa (0.741), Gabon (0.733), and Nigeria (0.560).
News reports on the 2024 top 10 countries with leading educational systems in Africa, as featured on Matsh and AfricaFactsZone, placed Seychelles at the top, followed by Tunisia, Mauritius, and South Africa.
DataPandas’ Education Rankings, last updated on May 19, 2025, show that South Africa (ranked 61) indexes significantly higher than other African countries based on the Inequality-Adjusted Education Index and Mean Years of Schooling. It was followed by Seychelles (ranked 68), Gabon (ranked 112), Botswana (ranked 114), Equatorial Guinea (ranked 126), and Nigeria (ranked 150).
We observed that Nigeria, ranked first in the Facebook post, did not appear in the top positions of any international rankings. Furthermore, Seychelles, which consistently ranks at the top in reputable indices, was placed fifth on the list in the Facebook post.
Moreover, South Africa, which consistently ranks as one of the high performers in educational indices, is absent from the Facebook post’s list. This further questions the validity of the claim.
Conclusion
The Facebook post ranking Nigeria as the first “most educated country in Africa” is false. Reputable international organisations consistently rate Seychelles as a top performer among African countries.
