Low public awareness of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is threatening the effective implementation of the continent’s flagship trade agreement, according to a new Afrobarometer study.
The study found that average awareness of the AfCFTA stood at only 13 percent across 38 African countries, despite broad public support for the agreement, which has been in force for about five years.
The findings are contained in the third edition of the African Insights report, launched in Accra under the theme: “Beyond Borders: Citizen Perspectives on a Shifting Global Order.”
The report noted that the AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-African trade, industrialisation and employment by creating a single market of about 1.4 billion people across 54 countries with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exceeding US$3.4 trillion.
It found that awareness levels in West Africa, which hosts the AfCFTA Secretariat, averaged 13 percent, matching East Africa. Central Africa recorded the highest awareness at 17 percent, followed by Southern Africa at 11 percent, while North Africa recorded the lowest at five percent.
The 2026 survey also showed that knowledge of the agreement remained concentrated among political and business elites, with respondents possessing post-secondary education demonstrating significantly higher awareness than those with lower levels of education.
Mr Niloy Banerjee, Ghana Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), described the 13 per cent awareness level as a worrying disconnect between policymakers and citizens.
He said governments must intensify public education while ensuring that the benefits of the agreement become visible through practical improvements in cross-border trade.
“Communication must improve,” he said, questioning why ordinary citizens remained largely unaware of the continental free trade agreement.
Mr Banerjee urged governments to demonstrate that the AfCFTA was delivering results by addressing bottlenecks in customs administration, tariffs, visa issuance, currency transactions and other barriers to trade.
He said farmers, manufacturers and traders needed to experience easier and more profitable cross-border trade if confidence in the agreement was to grow.
According to him, the challenge extends beyond communication to the practical implementation of reforms that facilitate the movement of goods and people across borders.
Expressing optimism about the agreement’s long-term prospects, Mr Banerjee noted that regional economic integration required sustained commitment.
“The European Union did not become one single market overnight. It took work, negotiations and counter negotiations,” he said.
Dr Joseph Asunka, Chief Executive Officer of Afrobarometer, said the gap between policymakers and citizens posed a significant risk to the successful implementation of the AfCFTA.
He observed that although the agreement had been negotiated at the highest policy levels, many of the citizens expected to benefit from it remained unaware of its existence and opportunities.
“The policy was agreed at the elite level among educated people and yet the citizens for whom this initiative is being implemented are unaware. That’s a gap that must be filled. Policymakers need to think about how we can bring citizens along on the issue of the continental free trade,” he said.
Dr Asunka called on African governments to strengthen regional cooperation to translate the AfCFTA into tangible economic opportunities for businesses and young entrepreneurs.
He said expanding markets through improved infrastructure and collective investment would be critical to unlocking the full benefits of the agreement.
Ms Josephine Sanny, Director of Communications at Afrobarometer, said the survey also found that while many Africans supported expanding trade across the continent, enthusiasm was lower regarding the free movement of people.
She said 56 percent of respondents supported the free movement of people within their sub-regions for work or trade, while 40 percent preferred governments to restrict such movement to protect local jobs.
Ms Sanny said the survey interviewed between 1,200 and 2,400 adults in each of the 38 participating countries, achieving a 95 percent confidence level with a margin of error of between two and three per cent.
She said the research was intended to ensure that citizens’ perspectives informed public policy and implementation.
Ms Sanny noted that although the AfCFTA agreement had been signed and ratified, implementation remained the greater challenge.
“Without awareness, infrastructure and results, AfCFTA risks being underestimated and underused,” she said.
