Groomsmen shield their brides from the sun as they queue for an Easter mass wedding at The International Pentecost Holiness Church in Heidelberg, South Africa, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
A model is reflected in a mirror applying makeup during the Mr. and Mrs. Kibera leadership contest held on International Youth Day in Nairobi, Kenya, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)
Refugees arrive at the Tine transit camp in Chad's Wadi Fara province, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Caitlin Kelly, File)
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Groomsmen shield their brides from the sun as they queue for an Easter mass wedding at The International Pentecost Holiness Church in Heidelberg, South Africa, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
Themba Hadebe
Girls ride the Tempest at the Rand Easter Show in Johannesburg, South Africa, April 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
Themba Hadebe
A model is reflected in a mirror applying makeup during the Mr. and Mrs. Kibera leadership contest held on International Youth Day in Nairobi, Kenya, Aug. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga, File)
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Lisebo Lechela, 53, an HIV-positive sex worker, poses for a portrait in her house in Maputsoe, Lesotho, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen, File)
In 2025, ordinary lives intertwined with extraordinary shifts across Africa's bustling cities and vast rural heartlands. The world’s youngest population found moments of joy, triumph and positive change even as it was dogged by challenges from election disputes to U.S. aid cuts.
AP photographers captured the youthful continent’s strength, passion and determination as economies grew, culture and traditions thrived, and citizens united on the streets during protests and in elections from Ivory Coast to Malawi.
While refugees from war-torn Sudan arrived in Chad as fighting escalated, thousands of couples gathered for a mass wedding and children enjoyed fair rides in South Africa. As residents fled the advance of Rwanda-backed rebels in eastern Congo, some found strength at a trauma center.
Elsewhere, white-veiled women celebrated Prophet Muhammad’s birthday in Senegal's Dakar, vultures found love in the hands of conservationists in South Africa, and Ghana's fantasy coffins highlighted a colorful celebration of life and legacy.
These are just some of the moments captured by AP photographers across the African continent in 2025.
Photo editing by Courtney Dittmar and Anne-Marie Belgrave.
