I've always wondered about African countries like Gabon that nominally post decent GDP and HDI numbers but that don't often make subjective lists of relatively-rich parts of the continent. Are these actually okay places to live for the average person to the same extent that, say, Botswana is, or do their governments just pump a bunch of resource-exports money into favored sectors of society?
It depends - Botswana has much higher living standards than most of Africa, even if it still has a quite surprising levels of rural poverty that you might not expect from a country with a similar income to, say, Thailand. In contrast, Equatorial Guinea is a disaster, and has pretty bad living standards even by African standards - such is the breathtaking kleptocracy of the ruling regime.
Honestly, the best place in Africa to live is probably Mauritius. Seychelles would be there too, but it has a pretty nasty problem with heroin addiction.
The island countries in Africa in general seem better off than the mainland (Mauritius, Seychelles, Cabo Verde, etc). Is this real, and is there a reason behind it?
Cape Verde, from what I'm aware of, benefited from not having a civil war after their independence from Portugal in 1975, and for cutting ties with Guinea-Bissau in the 1980's.
