The Six / About
The African Union counts its diaspora as part of Africa. The Six measures all six regions.
The Sixth Region
The African Union groups its 55 member states into five regions: Northern, Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa. It also counts a Sixth Region: the African diaspora.
In 2003, AU member states amended the Union’s founding treaty to “invite and encourage the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of our Continent, in the building of the African Union” (Protocol on Amendments to the Constitutive Act of the African Union (2003), Article 3(q)). In 2005 the AU Executive Council defined who that means: “peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union” (AU Executive Council, Decision on the Definition of the African Diaspora (2005)). In 2012 the AU Assembly took up Senegal’s proposal on the diaspora as Africa’s Sixth Region (AU Assembly, “The Diaspora as Africa’s Sixth Region” (item proposed by Senegal), Assembly/AU/14(XVIII) Add.3, January 2012), and the AU’s own institutions now use the term (AU CIDO, Second Diaspora Focal Points Workshop, Khartoum (2018)).
Why it matters now
The tie between the continent and its diaspora is increasingly an economic one. AU member states receive $126B a year in remittances, and the four largest diaspora host countries send $158B (latest World Bank figures; see the Macro Scorecard). Ghana, Benin, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau have opened citizenship or right-of-abode routes to people of African descent (Policy & Citizenship). The AfCFTA is building a single continental market, and the AU made reparations its theme for 2025 (Reparations & Restitution).
Yet the numbers have never sat in one place. Continental datasets stop at the coastline, and diaspora economies sit inside host-country statistics.
What The Six does
The Six measures all six regions with the same yardsticks: markets (21 stock exchanges and the Sixth 100 most-traded companies), macroeconomic health (the Macro Pulse score for every member state), policy (a sourced tracker of citizenship, trade and free-movement laws) and reparations and restitution. Region 6 is tracked through four hubs (the Caribbean, North America, Latin America and Europe) and the BEJ Diaspora Equity Index. Every figure shows its source and the period it covers. It is free, and the data can be downloaded.
Where to start
- Economists and analysts: the Macro Scorecard and its CSV download
- Investors: the Sixth 100, the markets on the overview and the Region 6 index
- Trade strategists: AfCFTA status on the policy tracker and trade tables on each country page
- Policymakers and diaspora organisations: the Policy & Citizenship tracker and the Reparations monitor
Who’s behind it
The Six is published by The Black Executive Journal, under the same editorial standards and corrections policy as its journalism. It sits alongside Diaspora Desk Daily, BEJ’s live business wire. Corrections go to info@blackexecutivebrief.com. How each number is sourced and scored is set out in the methodology.
Frequently asked questions
What is the African Union's Sixth Region?
The African diaspora. The African Union groups its 55 member states into five regions (Northern, Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa) and regards the diaspora as the Sixth Region. In 2003 AU member states amended the Union's founding treaty to invite the full participation of the African Diaspora as an important part of the continent, and in 2012 the AU Assembly took up a proposal on the diaspora as Africa's Sixth Region.
Who counts as part of the African diaspora?
The AU Executive Council's 2005 definition: peoples of African origin living outside the continent, irrespective of their citizenship and nationality and who are willing to contribute to the development of the continent and the building of the African Union.
What is The Six?
Free regional intelligence from The Black Executive Journal covering all six African Union regions with the same yardsticks: stock markets on 21 African exchanges, the Sixth 100 most-traded listed companies, a macro scorecard with the Macro Pulse score, a sourced tracker of citizenship, trade and free-movement policy, and a reparations and restitution monitor.
How does The Six track the diaspora region?
Through 20 hub countries in four hubs (the Caribbean, North America, Latin America and Europe), using World Bank figures for each economy and its remittances, plus the BEJ Diaspora Equity Index of US-listed Black-owned and Black-led companies and diaspora and Africa-access funds.
What is the Sixth 100?
The 100 most actively traded companies on the African stock exchanges The Six covers, ranked by average daily traded value in US dollars over up to the last 20 sessions, with at least five per AU region where exchange data exists. It measures liquidity, not company size.
What is the Macro Pulse score?
A 0 to 100 score showing where an AU member state ranks among its peers on five measures: real GDP growth, inflation, public debt, the current account balance and political stability. It is shown only when at least four of the five are available, and it is a relative snapshot, not a credit rating.
What is the BEJ Diaspora Equity Index?
A market signal for Region 6: 60% US-listed Black-owned and Black-led companies and 40% diaspora and Africa-access funds, equal-weighted within each group and rebalanced daily, from a base of 100 on July 22, 2026. Dividends are not included. It is not a fund or investment advice.
Where does the data come from, and how often does it update?
Official and primary sources: the African stock exchanges and central banks, the IMF, the World Bank and UNCTAD, plus BEJ's own research for policy and restitution records. Market data updates through the trading day, and country indicators update as their sources publish. Every figure is credited to its original source and dated to the period it covers.
Is The Six free, and can I reuse the data?
Yes, it is free. The Sixth 100, the Macro Scorecard and the Policy Tracker can be downloaded as CSV or JSON. The Policy & Citizenship Tracker is BEJ research published under CC BY 4.0; market and macro figures follow the terms of the sources credited on each row.
Who publishes The Six, and how do I report an error?
The Black Executive Journal publishes The Six under the same editorial standards and corrections policy as its journalism. Send corrections, with a source, to info@blackexecutivebrief.com.