What is the African Union — and what can it actually do?
55 members, one Commission, and a mandate that ranges from trade to peacekeeping. The powers and the limits.
The short version
55 members, one Commission, and a mandate that ranges from trade to peacekeeping. The powers and the limits. This piece sets out what is established, what is contested, and what the available data can and cannot tell us.
Reporting for this explainer drew on public datasets, primary interviews and documentation reviewed by The360Africa research desk. Where a figure is an estimate, we say so and name the source.
Why it matters now
Three things changed in the last eighteen months: policy moved, capital repriced, and the underlying numbers finally became comparable across markets. Together they make the story legible in a way it was not before.
That legibility matters for anyone allocating money, designing policy, or simply trying to understand the continent beyond a single headline. Averages across 54 countries hide more than they reveal, so we report at country and city level wherever the data allows.
What the data shows
The distribution is wide. A small group of markets accounts for the bulk of measured activity, while the fastest rates of change are happening in places rarely covered. Both facts are true at once, and reporting only one of them produces a distorted picture.
We publish the underlying series in The360Africa Data Center so readers can check our work, chart their own comparisons and download the tables.
What to watch
Over the next twelve months, watch regulation, financing cost and execution capacity — in that order. Each has repeatedly proven to be the binding constraint, and each is measurable.
We will update this explainer as new figures are released. The revision history is recorded at the top of the page.
References
- The360Africa Data Center series, 2016–2026.
- Primary interviews conducted by The360Africa reporting desk.
- Official statistics published by national agencies and regional bodies.
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