And as many of us know, the continent is not a single country

Africa is currently divided between 54 different, independent countries

But what would happen if all of these countries united today to form a united African State?

What would Africa, the country, look like in the world?

And how powerful of a country would it actually be?

For starters, Africa is huge

And covers over twenty percent of all the land on Earth

Making it about seventy percent of the same size as all of Asia

Or about three times the size of all of Europe

1.2 billion people currently live in Africa

Or about sixteen percent of the entire global population

So, interestingly, a united African State would actually have a smaller population

Than both India and China

But this wouldn't be the case for very long

Since Africa is currently experiencing the largest population boom in the world

The population of the continent has doubled since just 1990

And the continent is expected to surpass the populations of both

India and China in the same year, 2022

According to official UN estimates, the population of Africa is expected to

Reach a massive 4.4 billion people by the end of the 21st Century

And comprise thirty-nine percent of the global population

This enormous demographic shift in the future

Will ensure that a united African State has a dominant position in the world

But it comes with several challenges

The population of Africa, currently, is the youngest in the world

With a median age of just 19.7 years old

Compared to the global average of 30.4 years old

Literacy rates are also low

With only sixty-four percent of the population being considered literate

But this varies between regions

In Libya, for example, the literacy rate is very high, at 94.2 percent

While in South Sudan, it is very low at only 27 percent

HIV infection rates in the continent would also pose a severe challenge

To the united Africa

As eleven percent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa

Is currently infected with the disease

In addition to these challenges, a united African State would also struggle with

The extreme diversity on the continent

Africa is the most linguistically and ethnically diverse continent on the planet

Where somewhere between 1250 and 3000 languages are spoken

Because of this, Africa is the most multi-lingual place in the world

Where many people speak at least two African languages

And one additional European language

A situation similar to South Africa, where there are eleven official languages, would probably have to exist

The most common languages are Arabic, spoken by about seventeen percent of the population

Mostly in North Africa

Swahili by about ten percent, located mostly in South-East Africa

Berber by five percent, and Hausa by another five percent

English, French and Portuguese are very common lingua francas

Understood by a large amount of people

Where English is understood by thirteen percent of the population

French close behind at 11.5 percent

And Portuguese by three percent

All of these languages would probably have official status

As well as several others

There are hundreds, if not thousands of different ethnic groups that exist in Africa

We're used to seeing this map to represent the continent

But a more accurate map may be this one

Which shows how incredibly diverse the continent really is

Because of this, it's almost impossible to give figures for exact ethnic populations in the continent

But no one single group would even have over an eight percent share of the total population

In terms of religions, here is a religious map of the continent

Christians and Muslims would be almost perfectly divided

With each faith claiming about forty-seven percent of the continent's population

Traditional African religions would represent about ten percent of the population

And this adds to more than one hundred percent because several people hold mixed beliefs

About a final two percent of the population would be Atheist or non-religious

Next, we have a map of where the ten largest cities on the continent are located

The biggest city, Lagos in Nigeria, has a greater population than all of Romania combined

But despite this, it probably wouldn't be the capital city

I predict that the capital city would probably be located here in Ethiopia, at Addis Ababa

This is because an organisation called the African Union already exists

Similar in some ways to the European Union in Europe

The African Union's Headquarters are already located in Addis Ababa

And the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa is also headquartered here

Addis Ababa is often already called the "Political Capital of Africa"

So it would make sense to agree that the city would serve as the capital city of the united continent as well

Cairo and Johannesburg would probably be the largest financial centres of the united Africa

And serve very important roles as well

Africa is incredibly rich in natural resources

Possessing ninety percent of the world's platinum, fifty percent of its gold

Fifty percent of its diamonds and another thirty-three percent of its uranium

Despite this, however, it remains the poorest continent on the planet

The united African State would have a GDP of 2.39 trillion US dollars

Making it only the seventh largest economy in the world

It would barely beat out India's economy but remain behind those of France, the United Kingdom and Germany

The GDP per capita of Africa would only be 1992 dollars per year

But that figure isn't totally accurate of how crushing the poverty on the continent actually is

Because of rampant government corruption

According to the World Bank, poverty is defined as living under one dollar and twenty-five cents per day

Based on that, fifty percent of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa would be living in poverty

With the average poor person on the continent living on less than seventy cents per day

This picture kind of highlights how severe this problem is

Especially when you compare it to other continents

But Africa has a lot of room to grow

The continent is projected to be the quickest-growing region in the world in the future

And her GDP is expected to finally overtake France and the United Kingdom by 2023

But will still remain behind Germany then

All things considered though, Africa certainly has the potential if it united to become a superpower

By the close of the 21st Century

It would have a massive population to fuel a massive army

And a potentially huge economy that could one day rival the rest of the world

With one flag, Africa the country would be a united continent

Optimistically looking forward to what the future would bring for her