Government Effectiveness - Governance score (0-100) (Government score) in South Africa
South Africa: Government Effectiveness - Governance score (0-100) (Government score) was 51.87 0-100 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Government Effectiveness - Governance score in South Africa, 1996–2025
Source: The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG). Measured in 0-100.
Analysis
The most recent figure for government effectiveness - governance score in South Africa is 51.87 0-100, measured in 2025.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 5.5% on the previous year and down 13.8% over ten years.
Over the whole period, government effectiveness - governance score in South Africa peaked at 64.07 0-100 in 1996 and was at its lowest, 49.15 0-100, in 2024.
That places South Africa 109th out of 206 countries with data for 2025, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 27 years of available data.
Government Effectiveness - Governance score (0-100) (Government score) in South Africa, year by year
| Year | 0-100 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 64.07 0-100 | — |
| 1998 | 58.09 0-100 | -9.3% |
| 2000 | 61.05 0-100 | +5.1% |
| 2002 | 60.39 0-100 | -1.1% |
| 2003 | 60.92 0-100 | +0.9% |
| 2004 | 61.42 0-100 | +0.8% |
| 2005 | 61.74 0-100 | +0.5% |
| 2006 | 59.74 0-100 | -3.2% |
| 2007 | 58.88 0-100 | -1.4% |
| 2008 | 60.9 0-100 | +3.4% |
| 2009 | 62.29 0-100 | +2.3% |
| 2010 | 60.79 0-100 | -2.4% |
| 2011 | 61.06 0-100 | +0.5% |
| 2012 | 61.02 0-100 | -0.1% |
| 2013 | 61.37 0-100 | +0.6% |
| 2014 | 61.4 0-100 | +0.0% |
| 2015 | 60.21 0-100 | -1.9% |
| 2016 | 59.02 0-100 | -2.0% |
| 2017 | 59.39 0-100 | +0.6% |
| 2018 | 57.49 0-100 | -3.2% |
| 2019 | 58.27 0-100 | +1.3% |
| 2020 | 56.31 0-100 | -3.4% |
| 2021 | 55.02 0-100 | -2.3% |
| 2022 | 53.89 0-100 | -2.1% |
| 2023 | 50.2 0-100 | -6.8% |
| 2024 | 49.15 0-100 | -2.1% |
| 2025 | 51.87 0-100 | +5.5% |
South Africa compared with similar countries
- South Africa's 51.87 0-100 is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 51.87 0-100, 1.0× the median. (59 countries reporting)
- South Africa's 51.87 0-100 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 36.11 0-100, 1.4× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 61.08 0-100 | 58.09 0-100 | 64.07 0-100 | 2 |
| 2000s | 60.82 0-100 | 58.88 0-100 | 62.29 0-100 | 9 |
| 2010s | 60 0-100 | 57.49 0-100 | 61.4 0-100 | 10 |
| 2020s | 52.74 0-100 | 49.15 0-100 | 56.31 0-100 | 6 |
Countries ranked near South Africa
More reference data data for South Africa
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 0.5111 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 8.71 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 13.63 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 0.7468 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Indirect emissions (N2O) - Agricultural Soils 13.63 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure applied to Soils 1.71 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure Management 1.49 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Manure left on Pasture 41.1 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - IPCC Agriculture 63.65 (2050)
- Emission Totals - Emissions (N2O) - Crop Residues 4.07 (2050)
Frequently asked questions
- What is government effectiveness - governance score in South Africa?
- Government effectiveness - governance score in South Africa was 51.87 0-100 in 2025, according to The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG).
- What is the highest government effectiveness - governance score recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 64.07 0-100 in 1996.
- What is the lowest government effectiveness - governance score recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 49.15 0-100 in 2024.
- How does South Africa rank for government effectiveness - governance score?
- South Africa ranks 109th out of 206 countries with data for 2025.
- Is government effectiveness - governance score rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is down 13.8%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this South Africa data come from?
- The figures come from The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data., World Bank Group (WBG), published as part of Government Effectiveness - Governance score (0-100). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 27 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).
About this data
Government Effectiveness (GE) captures perceptions of the quality of public services, the civil service, policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of a government’s decisions. Governance score is a linear transformation of the governance estimate using hypothetical worst-case and base-case countries. It is an absolute score ranging from 0-100. Larger values correspond to better governance. The (country-series-time) metadata include the (a) number of sources, and (b) confidence intervals (lower and upper bound). The number of sources indicates the number of underlying data sources on which the governance score (respectively the underlying governance estimate) is based. The confidence intervals include the lower and upper bound of the 90% confidence interval for the governance score. Confidence intervals are a statistical range of values that likely contain the true value (of what is being estimated).