Share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in in South Africa
South Africa: Share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in was 8.9% in 2023. ▲ Rising
Share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in in South Africa, 1998–2023
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2023, share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in in South Africa stood at 8.9%.
That represents a change of up 7.6% on the previous year and up 0.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in in South Africa peaked at 12.2% in 2018 and was at its lowest, 6.9%, in 1998.
That places South Africa 119th out of 168 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 24 years of available data.
Share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in in South Africa, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 6.9% | — |
| 1999 | 7.0% | +1.3% |
| 2000 | 8.9% | +27.6% |
| 2001 | 9.8% | +9.3% |
| 2002 | 10.5% | +7.9% |
| 2003 | 10.1% | -3.9% |
| 2004 | 10.3% | +2.0% |
| 2005 | 8.5% | -17.8% |
| 2006 | 8.8% | +3.6% |
| 2007 | 9.1% | +3.5% |
| 2008 | 9.4% | +3.4% |
| 2009 | 9.7% | +3.2% |
| 2010 | 8.1% | -16.2% |
| 2011 | 8.2% | +0.9% |
| 2012 | 8.9% | +8.1% |
| 2015 | 11.5% | +29.8% |
| 2016 | 12.1% | +5.1% |
| 2017 | 11.6% | -4.5% |
| 2018 | 12.2% | +5.2% |
| 2019 | 11.9% | -2.6% |
| 2020 | 9.7% | -18.0% |
| 2021 | 9.7% | +0.0% |
| 2022 | 8.3% | -15.1% |
| 2023 | 8.9% | +7.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 7.0% | 6.9% | 7.0% | 2 |
| 2000s | 9.5% | 8.5% | 10.5% | 10 |
| 2010s | 10.6% | 8.1% | 12.2% | 8 |
| 2020s | 9.2% | 8.3% | 9.7% | 4 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More education data for South Africa
- Enrolment in pre-primary education, female (number), gaps filled 407,696 (2023)
- Secondary education, pupils, gaps filled 5.50 million (2023)
- Primary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Primary education, pupils, gaps filled 7.52 million (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, annual growth rate -1.44 % change on previous year (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Primary education, pupils, per capita 0.119 units per person (2023)
- Secondary education, duration (years), annual growth rate 0 % change on previous year (2025)
- Enrolment in primary education, both sexes (number), gaps filled 7.52 million (2023)
- Enrolment in primary education, both sexes (number), annual growth -1.44 % change on previous year (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in in South Africa?
- Share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in in South Africa was 8.9% in 2023, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
- What is the highest share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 12.2% in 2018.
- What is the lowest share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 6.9% in 1998.
- How does South Africa rank for share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in?
- South Africa ranks 119th out of 168 countries with data for 2023.
- Is share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is up 0.2%. 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 Share of all students in upper secondary education enrolled in vocational programmes, both sexes (%). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 24 observations, free to reuse under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (UNESCO Institute for Statistics).
About this data
February 2026 Data Release