© United Nations Development Programme and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation 2025
2024
global knowledge index
South Africa
KEY INDICATORS
- GDP (US$ billions):862.981
- Population:63,212,384
- HDI:0.717
84/141
Gki
Score
44.7
World
Average
47.8
Country Performance Summary
South Africa is a moderate performer in terms of its knowledge infrastructure. It ranks 84th out of 141 countries in the Global Knowledge Index 2024 and 23rd out of the 35 countries with high human development.
Areas of Strength
- Proportion of skilled production workers
- Firms constrained with inadequately educated workforce (%)
- Government expenditure on primary education (% GDP)
- New business density per thousand population
- Female-to-male ratio in parliament
Areas of Improvement
- Labour underutilization rate
- Unemployment rate with vocational education
- Firms producing new products and services (%)
- Firms offering formal training (%)
- Healthy life expectancy (years)
SECTORAL INDICES
Rank
Value
Pre-University
Education
102
50.68
Technical and Vocational
Education and Training
84
49.53
Higher
Education
97
38.18
Research, Development
and Innovation
52
32.31
Information and
Communications Technology
71
48.81
Economy
78
48.98
Enabling
Environment
92
49.91
Click the sectoral tab for a detailed overview.
GKI Pillars
