Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Africa
South Africa: Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or was 1 GPIA in 2024. ▲ Rising
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Africa, 1970–2024
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in GPIA.
Analysis
South Africa recorded 1 GPIA for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in 2024. That is the highest value across all 18 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 2.5% on the previous year and up 7.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Africa peaked at 1 GPIA in 2024 and was at its lowest, 0.7784 GPIA, in 1970.
That places South Africa 44th out of 137 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 18 years of available data.
Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Africa, year by year
| Year | GPIA | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 0.7784 GPIA | — |
| 1985 | 0.8856 GPIA | +13.8% |
| 2001 | 0.878 GPIA | -0.9% |
| 2009 | 0.9004 GPIA | +2.6% |
| 2010 | 0.8811 GPIA | -2.1% |
| 2011 | 0.8963 GPIA | +1.7% |
| 2013 | 0.9229 GPIA | +3.0% |
| 2014 | 0.9315 GPIA | +0.9% |
| 2015 | 0.9508 GPIA | +2.1% |
| 2016 | 0.9534 GPIA | +0.3% |
| 2017 | 0.9504 GPIA | -0.3% |
| 2018 | 0.9429 GPIA | -0.8% |
| 2019 | 0.9506 GPIA | +0.8% |
| 2020 | 0.9471 GPIA | -0.4% |
| 2021 | 0.9667 GPIA | +2.1% |
| 2022 | 0.977 GPIA | +1.1% |
| 2023 | 0.9798 GPIA | +0.3% |
| 2024 | 1 GPIA | +2.5% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 0.7784 GPIA | 0.7784 GPIA | 0.7784 GPIA | 1 |
| 1980s | 0.8856 GPIA | 0.8856 GPIA | 0.8856 GPIA | 1 |
| 2000s | 0.8892 GPIA | 0.878 GPIA | 0.9004 GPIA | 2 |
| 2010s | 0.9311 GPIA | 0.8811 GPIA | 0.9534 GPIA | 9 |
| 2020s | 0.975 GPIA | 0.9471 GPIA | 1 GPIA | 5 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More education data for South Africa
- Enrolment in tertiary education, all programmes, both sexes (number) -2.55 % change on previous year (2023)
- Teachers in primary education, female (number), gaps filled 225,583 (2023)
- Teachers in primary education, male (number), gaps filled 61,727 (2023)
- Enrolment in tertiary education, all programmes, female (number) 748,573 (2023)
- Enrolment in tertiary education, all programmes, female (number) -1.43 % change on previous year (2023)
- Enrolment in tertiary education, all programmes, male (number), gaps 444,590 (2023)
- Enrolment in tertiary education, all programmes, male (number) -4.38 % change on previous year (2023)
- Theoretical duration of primary education (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Theoretical duration of pre-primary education (years), annual growth 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Start of the academic school year (pre-primary to post-secondary non) 0.0494 % change on previous year (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Africa?
- Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or in South Africa was 1 GPIA in 2024, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 1 GPIA in 2024.
- What is the lowest educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.7784 GPIA in 1970.
- How does South Africa rank for educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or?
- South Africa ranks 44th out of 137 countries with data for 2024.
- Is educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 7.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this South Africa data come from?
- The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of Educational attainment rate, completed upper secondary education or higher, population 25+ years, adjusted gender parity index (GPIA). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 18 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release