Survey Finds Some African Think Tanks Among the World’s Best

The University of Pennsylvania has issued its annual rankings of the world’s top think tanks. Researchers at the university’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program surveyed 1,500 scholars, journalists, and public officials in 120 countries around the world. Nearly 7,000 think tanks, including 548 organizations in Africa, were analyzed and ranked. The report found 85 think tanks in South Africa, the largest number on the continent. Kenya has 53 think tanks and there are more than 25 think tanks in Nigeria, Ghana, and Uganda.

Of the world’s nearly 7,000 think tanks, 75 organizations were rated among the world’s best. The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., was rated the world’s top think tank. The Council on Foreign Relations and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace ranked second and third. The Royal Institute for International Affairs and Amnesty International were rated the best think tanks headquartered outside the United States.

The South African Institute of International Affairs was rated the best think tank in sub-Saharan Africa. The African Economic Research Consortium in Kenya, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa, in Senegal, and the Center for the Study of the Economies of Africa in Nigeria also ranked high.

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