Political Stability - Governance score (0-100) (Political score 0-100) in South Africa
South Africa: Political Stability - Governance score (0-100) (Political score 0-100) was 58.92 0-100 in 2025. ▼ Falling
Political Stability - 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
South Africa recorded 58.92 0-100 for political stability - governance score in 2025.
That represents a change of up 3.1% on the previous year and down 2.0% over ten years.
Over the whole period, political stability - governance score in South Africa peaked at 68.76 0-100 in 2007 and was at its lowest, 52.16 0-100, in 2021.
South Africa ranks 143rd of 208 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 27 years of available data.
Political Stability - Governance score (0-100) (Political score 0-100) in South Africa, year by year
| Year | 0-100 | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 55.66 0-100 | — |
| 1998 | 55.01 0-100 | -1.2% |
| 2000 | 60.13 0-100 | +9.3% |
| 2002 | 59.74 0-100 | -0.7% |
| 2003 | 61.37 0-100 | +2.7% |
| 2004 | 65.47 0-100 | +6.7% |
| 2005 | 65.34 0-100 | -0.2% |
| 2006 | 65.46 0-100 | +0.2% |
| 2007 | 68.76 0-100 | +5.0% |
| 2008 | 65.47 0-100 | -4.8% |
| 2009 | 64.7 0-100 | -1.2% |
| 2010 | 64.93 0-100 | +0.4% |
| 2011 | 65.05 0-100 | +0.2% |
| 2012 | 63.73 0-100 | -2.0% |
| 2013 | 61.2 0-100 | -4.0% |
| 2014 | 61.68 0-100 | +0.8% |
| 2015 | 60.15 0-100 | -2.5% |
| 2016 | 59.67 0-100 | -0.8% |
| 2017 | 58.81 0-100 | -1.4% |
| 2018 | 60.32 0-100 | +2.6% |
| 2019 | 59.66 0-100 | -1.1% |
| 2020 | 61.14 0-100 | +2.5% |
| 2021 | 52.16 0-100 | -14.7% |
| 2022 | 53.75 0-100 | +3.1% |
| 2023 | 54.55 0-100 | +1.5% |
| 2024 | 57.15 0-100 | +4.8% |
| 2025 | 58.92 0-100 | +3.1% |
South Africa compared with similar countries
- South Africa's 58.92 0-100 is below the median for upper middle income countries, which is 66.97 0-100, 88% of the median. (59 countries reporting)
- South Africa's 58.92 0-100 is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 56.36 0-100, 1.0× the median. (48 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 55.34 0-100 | 55.01 0-100 | 55.66 0-100 | 2 |
| 2000s | 64.05 0-100 | 59.74 0-100 | 68.76 0-100 | 9 |
| 2010s | 61.52 0-100 | 58.81 0-100 | 65.05 0-100 | 10 |
| 2020s | 56.28 0-100 | 52.16 0-100 | 61.14 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 political stability - governance score in South Africa?
- Political stability - governance score in South Africa was 58.92 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 political stability - governance score recorded in South Africa?
- The highest recorded value was 68.76 0-100 in 2007.
- What is the lowest political stability - governance score recorded in South Africa?
- The lowest recorded value was 52.16 0-100 in 2021.
- How does South Africa rank for political stability - governance score?
- South Africa ranks 143rd out of 208 countries with data for 2025.
- Is political stability - governance score rising or falling in South Africa?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.0%. 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 Political Stability - 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
Political Stability (PV) captures perceptions of the extent to which political power and governance are secure from destabilization, and of the likelihood that authority will be challenged or altered through violent, coercive, or unconstitutional means. 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).