South Africa: Lower secondary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group)

Key figures

Over five years it is up 5.5 percentage points from 82.81% in 2018. Since 1991 it is up 32.1 percentage points from 56.21% in 1991. The World Bank has no value for 20 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 7.07 percentage points in 2021 and the biggest yearly fall was 10.25 percentage points in 2003. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2023, South Africa had the 21st highest value of the 30 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.

Closest to South Africa in the 2023 ranking

• West Bank and Gaza — 18th of 30: 91.21%
• Ecuador — 19th of 30: 90.47%
• Dominica — 20th of 30: 90.43%
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 22nd of 30: 85.24%
• Romania — 23rd of 30: 77.98%
• Uruguay — 24th of 30: 77.87%

What this measures

Lower secondary education completion rate is measured as the gross intake ratio to the last grade of lower secondary education (general and pre-vocational). It is calculated as the number of new entrants in the last grade of lower secondary education, regardless of age, divided by the population at the entrance age for the last grade of lower secondary education.

Limitations: The data do not account for students who drop out during the final year of Lower secondary education. Therefore, this rate serves as a proxy and should be considered an upper estimate of the actual Lower secondary completion rate. There are many reasons why the primary completion rate can exceed 100 percent. The numerator may include late entrants and overage children who have repeated one or more grades of primary education as well as children who entered school early, while the denominator is the number of children at the entrance age for the last grade of primary education.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 13 values

Lower secondary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group) in nearby economies

• Benin — 27.87% (2022)
• Botswana — 91.44% (2022)
• Burkina Faso — 27.88% (2024)
• Burundi — 28% (2020)
• Cabo Verde — 83.04% (2022)
• Cameroon — 34.98% (2023)
• Central African Republic — 8.89% (2016)
• Chad — 18.42% (2021)
• 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

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Questions people ask

What is South Africa's lower secondary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group)?

88.31% in 2023, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1991?

It is up 32.1 percentage points from 56.21% in 1991. The highest value was 93.73% in 2021 and the lowest 56.21% in 1991.

How does South Africa rank?

21st highest of 30 economies with data for 2023.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API..

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SE.SEC.CMPT.LO.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Data API, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources, note: The data are obtained through the UIS API. 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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