TPEOThe People of the Earth Organization

Society profile

South Africa

South Africa: 43 indicators from open sources, newest value for each.

Demography

Population, total 64.7 MWorld Bank2025 Population aged 0-14 25.7%World Bank2025 Population aged 15-64 67.4%World Bank2025 Population aged 65+ 6.9%World Bank2025 Female share of population 51.3%World Bank2025 Urban population 63.8%World Bank2025 Fertility rate 2.2World Bank2024 Adolescent fertility rate 51.8World Bank2024 Life expectancy at birth 66.3yearsWorld Bank2024 Infant mortality 24.2‰World Bank2024 Net migration 146 370World Bank2025

Education

Adult literacy rate 91.2%World Bank2024 Secondary school enrolment 104.1%World Bank2023 Tertiary enrolment 23.5%World Bank2023 Education spending 6.0%World Bank2024

Income

GDP per capita, PPP $15 906$World Bank2025 GNI per capita, PPP $15 600$World Bank2025 Gini index 54.1World Bank2022 Poverty headcount at $2.15/day 17.4%World Bank2022 Income share held by richest 10% 42.1%World Bank2022

Health

Suicide rate 22.3per 100kWorld Bank2021 Health spending 8.9%World Bank2023

Connectivity

Individuals using the internet 78.4%World Bank2024 Mobile subscriptions 179.3per 100World Bank2024 Access to electricity 90.2%World Bank2024

Environment

CO2 emissions per capita 6.9tWorld Bank2024

Trust People

Most people can be trusted survey38.9%Afrobarometer2022

Trust Institutions

Confidence in the government survey27.3%Afrobarometer2022 Confidence in parliament survey24.3%Afrobarometer2022 Confidence in the police survey32.6%Afrobarometer2022 Confidence in the courts survey51.4%Afrobarometer2022

Gender Roles

Women in national parliament 44.9%World Bank2025

Democracy

It is important to live in a democracy survey44.3%Afrobarometer2022 Satisfied with how democracy works survey26.2%Afrobarometer2022

Immigration Attitudes

Would not want immigrants as neighbours survey40.7%Afrobarometer2022

Employment

Unemployment rate 32.4%World Bank2025 Youth unemployment rate 59.9%World Bank2025 Female labour force participation 49.9%World Bank2025 Male labour force participation 61.7%World Bank2025 Self-employed share 17.3%World Bank2025

Safety

Intentional homicides 43.7per 100kWorld Bank2022 Feels safe walking alone at night survey37.0%UN SDG2022

Tolerance

Homosexuality is justifiable survey75.2%Afrobarometer2022

Socially closest countries

  1. Angola68%
  2. Lesotho68%
  3. Serbia67%
  4. Sudan66%
  5. Eswatini64%
  6. Ecuador64%

Distance is computed on 10 value questions the two societies were both asked, standardised within each survey so that a different questionnaire does not pass for a different society. Similarity is relative to the widest distance in the world.

Every number carries its source and year. Where a country is missing, it is missing — we do not interpolate.