Africa’s most populous country Nigeria is conspicuously missing from a list of the best paid company Chief Operating Officers (CEOs) based on the outcome of a Bloomberg survey.

South Africa is the only African country featured on the list, and it occupies the seventh position.

At the top of the 25 countries featured is the USA, followed by Switzerland and the UK, while the last three are Poland (23rd position), China (24^th) and Thailand.

The Bloomberg ranking of CEO compensation at companies filling benchmark indexes in 25 of the world’s largest economies shows that the biggest pay cheques – by far – are written in the USA, where Heads of S&P 500 businesses get pay packages averaging $16.9m, about 2.6 times more than what their counterparts reap abroad. In second-place Switzerland, CEOs get 1.6 times the average.

Each country’s compensation figure is based on the average CEO pay package for companies in one major stock index, weighted by market capitalisation. The pay, disclosed in public filings, includes any salary, bonuses, value of perquisites and non-cash pay such as equity awards, deferred-compensation programs and pensions.

•Photo shows Broad Street Lagos, home of some of Nigeria’s leading blue chips.

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