AI access, cost and use · Southern Africa · Africa · data read 1 Oct 2026

Eswatini

In Eswatini, a $20-a-month AI plan is 6.4% of national income per person. There is no recent household survey to set it against what people live on. Claude, OpenAI's API and Gemini are all officially offered. 63% of people use the internet.

–of the median living standard for a $20 planno consumer-price or exchange-rate series

–of people for whom the plan is over a tenth of their living standard

3of 3leading services officially offeredClaude · OpenAI · Gemini

63%of people use the internetworld 74% · 1.3 m people

The figuresEswatini

People1.3 m

Median living standardno estimateno consumer-price or exchange-rate series

A $20 plan takes–

For whom it is over a tenth–

GNI per person$3,730plan is 6.4% of it

Claude use per personnot reported

Notable AI models built here0

Officially offered here3 of 3

Run it yourself →

Claude · claude.ai appYes

OpenAI · APIYes

Gemini · web appYes

From each lab's own published list: Anthropic's Claude.ai countries, OpenAI's API countries and Google's Gemini web app countries. Not listed means not officially served; open-weight models can be run anywhere.

Against Africa and the worldregional figures are medians or population-weighted

Measure	Eswatini	Africa	World
A $20 plan ÷ median living standard	–	38%	9.9%
People for whom it is over a tenth	–	96%	63%
Plan price ÷ GNI per person	6.4%	14%	2.9%
People using the internet	63%	40%	74%
Claude use per working-age person	not reported	0.24×	1.00×
Notable AI models built	0	0	1,256

NeighboursSouthern Africa · lightest burden first

Country	People	Online	$20 plan ÷ median living standard	Over a tenth	Claude use per person	Official lists
South Africa	65 m	78%	19%	73%	0.46×	3 of 3
Namibia	3.1 m	65%	22%	76%	0.44×	3 of 3
Botswana	2.6 m	57%	24%	79%	0.52×	3 of 3
Lesotho	2.4 m	52%	44%	96%	not reported	3 of 3
Eswatini	1.3 m	63%	no estimate	–	not reported	3 of 3

All countries →

The foundationsEswatini against the world

World Bank ↗

People using the internet

63%world 74%

People with electricity

89%world 92%

Mobile subscriptions per 100 people

140world 112

Fixed broadband lines per 100 people

2.5world 20.1

Enrolled in university-level education

6%world 44%

Research spending, share of GDP

0.28%world 2.6%

Researchers per million people

138world 1,652

Secure internet servers per million people

117world 16,381

The latest World Bank figure for each measure. The tick marks the world figure.

A $20-a-month plan ($240 a year, US list price) against the median household living standard per person in each country. The median is from the latest national household survey (World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform), revalued from 2021 purchasing-power dollars into US dollars at recent prices and official exchange rates, assuming real living standards have not changed since the survey. Some surveys measure income and others consumption, which includes food people grow and housing they own, so this is a living standard, not cash to spare. Countries with no survey since 2015 or no defensible exchange rate are left blank.

World Bank household surveys ↗Anthropic countries ↗OpenAI countries ↗Gemini countries ↗Anthropic Economic Index ↗Epoch AI notable models ↗