Senegal replaced Tunisia as the highest ranked African national team when the monthly statistics were released by Fifa on Thursday.
The Senegalese rose from second place on the back of a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying victory in Equatorial Guinea during November.
Tunisia lost away to Egypt in the same competition, and were also beaten at home by Morocco in a friendly.
Bafana Bafana moved up one place from 73 to 72 on the Fifa rankings, having drawn their most recent matches against Nigeria and Paraguay.
Only five African countries – Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo – were among the top 50 in the world.
African Top 20 (world ranking in brackets)
1. Senegal (23), 2. Tunisia (26), 3. Morocco (40), 4. Nigeria (44), 5. DR Congo (49), 6. Ghana (51), 7. Cameroon (55), 8. Egypt (56), 9. Burkina Faso (61), 10. Mali (64), 11. Ivory Coast (65), 12. Guinea (66), 13. Algeria (67), 14. Cape Verde (72), 15. South Africa (72), 16. Uganda (75), 17. Zambia (82), 18. Congo Brazzaville (84), 19. Gabon (85), 20. Benin (94)