South Africa's gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group) was 103.67% in 2017, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 3.3 percentage points from 100.37% in 2012.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 103.67% | 2017 |
| Five years earlier | 100.37% | 2012 |
| Highest | 122.11% | 2003 |
| Lowest | 91.91% | 2016 |
| Average since 2009 | 98.68% | 2009–2017 |
| First recorded | 121.29% | 1991 |
Over five years it is up 3.3 percentage points from 100.37% in 2012. Since 1991 it is down 17.62 percentage points from 121.29% in 1991. The World Bank has no value for 9 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.
What the numbers say
In 2017, South Africa's gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group) rose 11.76 percentage points on 2016 (from 91.91% to 103.67%).
Across the 14 yearly changes before that (1999 to 2016), the average change was +1.35 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 8.16 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.3 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 15.3 percentage points in 1999 and the biggest yearly fall was 16.38 percentage points in 2000. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2009 to 2017 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains less than 1% of the movement over 9 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2017, South Africa had the 18th highest value of the 55 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 103.67% | 2017 |
| World | 105.12% | 2018 |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 112.92% | 2018 |
| Upper middle income | 100.74% | 2018 |
Closest to South Africa in the 2017 ranking
What this measures
Gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education is the number of new entrants in the first grade of primary education regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the population of the official primary entrance age.
Limitations: The quality of data is affected when new entrants and repeaters are not correctly distinguished in the first grade of primary education. Caution is also needed for countries with a total population under 100,000 since the United Nations Population Division neither publish nor endorse single-age data for those countries. The data are highly subject to fluctuations in migration and other factors.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 18 values
| Year | Gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group) |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 103.67 |
| 2016 | 91.91 |
| 2015 | 97.98 |
| 2014 | 96.4 |
| 2013 | 99.37 |
| 2012 | 100.37 |
| 2011 | 103.92 |
| 2010 | 98.16 |
| 2009 | 96.35 |
| 2008 | no data |
Gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group) in nearby economies
- Benin — 146.92% (2018)
- Burkina Faso — 111.1% (2018)
- Burundi — 128.06% (2018)
- Cabo Verde — 98.9% (2018)
- Cameroon — 116.77% (2018)
- Central African Republic — 128.09% (2016)
- Chad — 109.08% (2016)
- Comoros
More education data for South Africa
- Primary school starting age (years) — 7 (2025)
- Primary education, duration (years) — 7 (2025)
- Lower secondary school starting age (years) — 14 (2025)
- Secondary education, duration (years) — 5 (2025)
- Primary education, pupils — 7.52 million (2023)
- School enrollment, primary (% gross) — 101.77% (2023)
- School enrollment, primary, female (% gross) — 99.21% (2023)
- School enrollment, primary, male (% gross) — 104.32% (2023)
- Government expenditure on education, total (% of government expenditure) — 19.14% (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is South Africa's gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group)?
- 103.67% in 2017, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1991?
- It is down 17.62 percentage points from 121.29% in 1991. The highest value was 122.11% in 2003 and the lowest 91.91% in 2016.
- How does South Africa rank?
- 18th highest of 55 economies with data for 2017.
- Is the latest change in gross intake ratio in first grade of primary education, total (% of relevant age group) unusual for South Africa?
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.PRM.GINT.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://uis.unesco.org/bdds, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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