South Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa. Upper middle income. Capital: Pretoria. Population 64,747,319 (2025).

Key trends

GDP per person (PPP) (constant international $)

GDP growth (%)

Inflation, consumer prices (% annual)

Life expectancy at birth (years)

Indicators

Each country reports for different years, so check the year beside every figure. Rank 1 is the highest value among countries with recent data.

Economy

Indicator	Latest	Year	5-yr change	10-yr change	Rank
GDP per person (PPP)constant international $	13,592	2025	+341	−950	120 of 199
GDP growth%	1.1%	2025	+7.3 pp	−0.2 pp	168 of 209
GDP per person growth%	0.0%	2025	+7.6 pp	+0.7 pp	176 of 209
GNI per person (Atlas method)current US$	6,270	2025	+340	−180	116 of 201
Trade% of GDP	60.9%	2025	+10.2 pp	+4.2 pp	126 of 183
Foreign direct investment, net inflows% of GDP	−0.5%	2025	−1.4 pp	−0.9 pp	182 of 195
Central government debt% of GDP	82.8%	2024	+18.2 pp	+30.1 pp	8 of 48

Prices and jobs

Indicator	Latest	Year	5-yr change	10-yr change	Rank	Trend
Inflation, consumer prices% annual	3.2%	2025	0.0 pp	−1.3 pp	89 of 180
Unemployment (modelled ILO estimate)% of labour force	32.4%	2025	+3.2 pp	+7.2 pp	2 of 186

People and health

Indicator	Latest	Year	5-yr change	10-yr change	Rank
Populationpeople	64,747,319	2025	+4,184,938	+8,023,782	24 of 217
Population growth% annual	1.2%	2025	−0.5 pp	−0.9 pp	93 of 217
Urban population% of total	63.8%	2025	+0.4 pp	+0.6 pp	111 of 217
Life expectancy at birthyears	66.3	2024	+0.2	+3.1	183 of 217
Infant mortalityper 1,000 live births	24.2	2024	−0.9	−6.5	58 of 196
Health spending% of GDP	8.9%	2023	+0.8 pp	+0.8 pp	47 of 193

Education

Indicator	Latest	Year	5-yr change	10-yr change	Rank	Trend
Adult literacy rate% of people aged 15+	91.2%	2024	−3.9 pp	−3.0 pp	40 of 86
Government spending on education% of GDP	6.0%	2024	+0.1 pp	+0.5 pp	24 of 171

Access and infrastructure

Indicator	Latest	Year	5-yr change	10-yr change	Rank	Trend
Internet users% of population	78.4%	2024	+8.7 pp	+29.4 pp	105 of 185
Access to electricity% of population	90.2%	2024	+5.2 pp	+4.3 pp	161 of 215

Inequality and poverty

Indicator	Latest	Year	5-yr change	10-yr change	Rank	Trend
Gini index (inequality)index, 0 to 100	54.1	2022	–	−5.5	2 of 85
Poverty headcount ratio% of population, at the World Bank international poverty line	17.4%	2022	–	−10.5 pp	10 of 85

Environment and energy

Indicator	Latest	Year	5-yr change	10-yr change	Rank	Trend
Renewable energy% of final energy consumption	9.7%	2021	+1.9 pp	+0.7 pp	146 of 212

* Latest figure is too old to be included in rankings or peer medians.

Advanced metrics

Indicator	Own history		Versus peers (latest)			Growth and catch-up
Indicator	10-yr mean	Z-score	Income group median	Region median	Volatility (σ)	10-yr CAGR	% of high-income median	10 yrs earlier
GDP per person (PPP)	14,052	−0.9	17,730	3,781	500	−0.7%	28%	33%
GDP growth	0.7%	+0.2	3.2%	4.6%	2.7	–	–	–
GDP per person growth	−0.7%	+0.2	3.2%	2.5%	2.8	–	–	–
GNI per person (Atlas method)	6,238	+0.1	7,775	1,355	279	−0.3%	17%	24%
Trade	57.4%	+0.7	79.8%	59.9%	5.0	–	–	–
Foreign direct investment, net inflows	1.9%	−0.9	2.4%	2.0%	2.8	–	–	–
Central government debt	65.8%	+1.6	48.9%	58.1%	10.7	–	–	–
Inflation, consumer prices	5.0%	−1.5	3.3%	3.5%	1.2	–	–	–
Unemployment (modelled ILO estimate)	29.5%	+0.9	5.5%	5.4%	3.2	–	–	–
Population	60,148,210	+1.8	6,549,143	14,957,094	2,588,855	+1.3%	2,209%	2,159%
Population growth	1.4%	−0.7	0.5%	2.3%	0.4	–	–	–
Urban population	63.4%	+2.8	65.4%	44.9%	0.1	–	–	–
Life expectancy at birth	64.8	+1.1	74.5	64.3	1.3	–	–	–
Infant mortality	26.3	−0.9	11.2	37.2	2.3	–	–	–
Health spending	8.3%	+1.6	6.2%	4.4%	0.4	–	–	–
Adult literacy rate	93.1%	−0.9	94.8%	71.8%	2.1	–	–	–
Government spending on education	5.9%	+0.4	4.1%	3.3%	0.4	–	–	–
Internet users	64.7%	+1.2	82.0%	36.8%	11.3	–	–	–
Access to electricity	86.3%	+1.9	100.0%	57.8%	2.1	–	–	–
Renewable energy	8.3%	+2.0	13.8%	70.6%	0.7	–	–	–

How the advanced metrics are calculated. Change: latest value minus the value 5 or 10 years earlier, using the nearest observation within two years where the exact year is missing (percentage points for % series). CAGR: (latest ÷ earlier value)^(1 ÷ years between) − 1 over about 10 years, shown only for positive levels such as income and population. Volatility: standard deviation of the 10 observations before the latest. Z-score: how many standard deviations the latest value sits from that 10-year mean. Rank: among countries whose latest value is within 3 years of the newest year for that indicator; 1 is the highest value. Peer medians: the same group of recent values, split by income group, region and world. Share of high-income median: the country's value as a percentage of the median high-income country in the same year, compared with 10 years earlier. A rising share means the country is catching up; it is arithmetic about the past, not a forecast.

Compare South Africa with other countries

Source. World Bank, World Development Indicators (datacatalog.worldbank.org), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Data retrieved 2026-11-11. Some series are compiled by third parties such as the ILO and UN agencies and are subject to those sources' notes.

Changes made. ECONDEX has calculated all changes, growth rates, volatility, z-scores, ranks, peer medians and charts. The World Bank did not prepare, review or endorse them.

Read with care. The latest figure for each country is often one to three years old and different countries report different years. Some figures are modelled estimates. Ranks compare countries on values from different years and are not judgements of performance. Country names, groupings and boundaries follow World Bank usage and imply no view on the legal status of any territory.

Not advice. For information only. This is not investment, financial, legal or policy advice. Do not rely on it for decisions without checking the source.