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Objectives To ascertain the known burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Africa and of spirometry use to indicate the possibility of further unpublished data becoming shortly available. Method Literature review. Results Screening of 132 articles yielded 22 relevant articles, of which only six used spirometry based data. A total of 106 physicians in 34 countries were contacted and only 23 reported satisfactory use and availability of spirometry. Conclusions Current estimates of COPD burden in Africa are based on an unreliably small dataset. Acquisition of further data will require substantial investment in lung function equipment and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]