Mozambique and Angola are among the African countries with high levels of crime and low resilience to organised crime, according to the Africa Organized Crime Index 2025 — a significant obstacle to the business environment.
The report, presented in November at the conference “Strengthening Africa’s Response to Transnational Organised Crime” (ENACT), quantified levels of organised crime and countries’ resilience across Africa on a scale from 1 to 10. Mozambique, with a score of 6.63, ranks eighth among African countries with the highest crime rates, in a list led by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) with a score of 7.47. The country’s situation worsened by 0.43 points compared to 2023, the year the previous organised crime report was published. Conversely, Mozambique’s resilience score stands at 3.25, a decrease of 0.05 since the last report.
Angola, in turn, recorded a crime score of 5.62, an increase of 0.04 over 24 months, but still above 5.5 — the threshold above which experts consider that organised crime “significantly influences” a country, according to the report. In terms of resilience, Angola scored 4.21, down 0.29 from 2023.
Looking beyond Africa and incorporating global data, Brazil recorded a crime score of 7.07 (an increase of 0.30) and ranks as the 14th worst-positioned country worldwide, in a list topped by Myanmar with a score of 8.08. Brazil is the Lusophone country with the highest score. In terms of resilience to organised crime, Brazil scored 5.04, an increase of 0.14 over two years.
Greater Stability in Cabo Verde, Senegal and Mauritius
Rumbi Matamba, the analyst responsible for presenting the report, told the Lusa news agency that the index does not measure levels of security, but noted that countries should nevertheless aim to “be positioned in the quadrant of low crime and high resilience to organised crime.” In Africa, only three countries fall within this “ideal quadrant,” with Cabo Verde in the strongest position, recording a crime score of 4.08 and a resilience score of 6.54. The other two countries in this “ideal quadrant,” besides Cabo Verde, are Senegal and the island nation of Mauritius.
Only 46 countries (23.8% of all countries assessed) are in the quadrant with a crime score below 5.5 and a resilience score above 5.5.
The analyst cautioned, however, that the raw figures do not tell the whole story, as “there are 12 indicators, [and] an increase does not necessarily reflect a single indicator; it is an average of the 12, meaning that the dynamics are complex, especially when assessing where each country has improved.” The full report is available on the globalinitiative.net portal.
Text: Editorial Team • Photography: D.R.
