Developer salaries are a hot topic worldwide. Recent research by Tunga — a dutch based IT staff augmentation provider, shows the most financially most rewarding African countries for developers. South Africa takes the lead, followed by Morocco and Tunisia.
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It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out as a coder or are already well-established. You should have a good idea about what a reasonable salary is for your trade in the country where a developer lives. The numbers presented by Tunga were adjusted with the average and high-end developer salaries in each country for the local cost of living. And by doing that for African countries north to south and east to west, the research shows a good picture of which countries are the most interesting to work as a developer – purely from a financial point of view, of course.
Now with the numbers, it won’t come as a surprise that South Africa takes the cake with an average salary of $2,166.60 /month. This amount is almost double that of their number two and reflects the relatively advanced economy of SA. As shown in Figure 1, Moroccan coders are the second-highest earners ($1,154.16), followed by the Kenyans ($893.39). Nigeria ($664.38) and Uganda ($643.97) , with Ethiopia all the way at the bottom ($219.95).
So how about the high earners? Where should those super experienced and talented devs go in Africa to earn the most? Figure 2 tells you all. Again, the answer is South Africa ($3726.64), followed by Morocco ($2505.59) and Zimbabwe ($1974.99). The bottom three countries are made up of Egypt ($1004.50), Senegal ($650.77) and Ethiopia ($394.55).
At $3726.64, the biggest earners in SA make 1.7 times the average for that country. That difference between the average salaries and the highs – in the language of statistics: the spread – varies significantly between our 17 countries. The spread in Nigeria is remarkable: Nigerian coders with the biggest paychecks earn 2.5 times the national average! Check Table 1 for more details.
| Country | Spread of salary levels | Country | Spread of salary levels | Country | Spread of salary levels |
| Nigeria | 2.5 | Morocco | 2.08 | Egypt | 1.77 |
| Rwanda | 2.33 | Tunisia | 2.01 | South Africa | 1.72 |
| Cameroon | 2.29 | Uganda | 1.99 | Algeria | 1.63 |
| Zimbabwe | 2.24 | Ghana | 1.97 | Tanzania | 1.6 |
| Kenya | 2.08 | Mauritius | 1.82 | Senegal | 1.59 |
| Ethiopia | 1.79 | Ivory Coast | 1.5 |
It is not certain why this spread in salary levels is as large as it is in some countries, but Tunga has a few hypotheses:
- The most obvious explanation is that the spread is simply a reflection of the different general salary levels in big cities and less urbanized areas.
- A high spread score can also point towards a fast-growing demand for coders in that country, where new hires earn higher salaries much quicker than developers that stay in their job. This seems a likely explanation: in a growing, dynamic tech environment, there is more call for developers, which results in upward pressure on the salaries.
Overall Software developer salaries
After adjusting the salaries for the cost of living, they calculated the final salaries, by dividing the salary level by the index score. It should be noted that the index score was benchmarked on South Africa. Morocco’s adjusted salary of $1,569.11 in Figure 3 by itself is meaningless. The number should be interpreted as the salary the developer would earn if they were based in South Africa (also compare the salaries for South Africa in Figure 1 and Figure 3, below which are the same). By performing this calculation for all the 17 African countries, we now have an idea of how attractive a country is for a developer to work in, relative to the other countries.
This information gives a better understanding of the purchasing power of African developers. Figure 4 shows that, with the exception of Egypt, our North African countries are the most attractive for developers. This is the result of relatively high salaries and a low cost of living. Next, come East African nations (including Egypt). The least attractive countries for coders are in West Africa, but Ethiopia is all the way at the bottom.
Wrapping up
To make the picture complete, Tunga created a plot diagram that shows the most attractive countries for high-end developers. Figure 5 gives the overview, with the red line being an average.
The countries on the bottom right (Ethiopia, Senegal, and Ivory Coast) are the least attractive, due to a high cost of living and low salaries. The prime locations are found top left: Morocco and Kenya. While the cost of living in South Africa is high, the research shows that expenses are offset by the high salaries. The reverse seems true for Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, and Uganda. There, the cost of living is so low that it compensates significantly for the relatively lower salary level.
Of course, people don’t just pack up and leave only for money. The local people, nature, culture, quality of life, and many other factors weigh into that decision as well. And as a developer, you need a good tech environment too. The research however neglects to mention factors of the hungry American software developer market that is lately hiring remote African developers and paying way above the averages quoted above.
