1. Countries that make up the region: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Saint Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leona, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
2. Population: 839,615,482 (2009)
   Urban population: 37% (2009)
3. GDP: US$ 946,094,822,923 (2009)
   GDP per capita: US$ 1,126 (2009)
4. Politics: sub-Saharan Africa is a region characterized by political instability, ethnic conflicts and the permanent struggle to improve human development indices. Its history is marked by the legacy of the colonialist tradition which it endured for many years.
5. Mobile phone penetration: 41% (2010)
   Internet penetration: 9.6% (2010)
6. Literacy rate: 67% age15+ (2009)
7. Publishing industry: sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region on the planet, a situation that is also reflected in its publishing industry; access to books is restricted and libraries thus become fundamental agents. Over 90% of the books published in Africa are text books, most of which are published by multinational companies. Africa’s publishing production represents around 3% of world production. It is important to highlight the region’s enormous cultural and linguistic diversity.

Sources: World Bank; Book Aid; International Telecommunication Union; Langaa Research and Publishing Common Initiative Group.