What is the highest school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes recorded in South Africa?

The highest recorded value was 0.7866 years in 2012.

What is the lowest school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes recorded in South Africa?

The lowest recorded value was 0.2072 years in 1999.

How does South Africa rank for school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes?

South Africa ranks 153rd out of 191 groups with data for 2018.

Is school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes rising or falling in South Africa?

Over the last ten years it is up 16.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.

Where does this South Africa data come from?

The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of School life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

School life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes in South Africa

Name: School life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes in South Africa
Creator: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
License: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)

South Africa: School life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes was 0.7055 years in 2018. ▲ Rising

Latest (2018)

0.7055 years

Change on year

down 5.5%

Rank

153rd

of 191 groups

All-time high

0.7866 years

in 2012

All-time low

0.2072 years

in 1999

Years of data

1994–2018

School life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes in South Africa, 1994–2018

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Measured in years.

Analysis

In 2018, school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes in South Africa stood at 0.7055 years.

The figure is down 5.5% on the previous year and up 16.3% over ten years.

Over the whole period, school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes in South Africa peaked at 0.7866 years in 2012 and was at its lowest, 0.2072 years, in 1999.

South Africa ranks 153rd of 191 groups on this measure, in the bottom quarter.

The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 23 years of available data.

Averages by decade

Decade	Average	Lowest	Highest	Years
1990s	0.2567 years	0.2072 years	0.31 years	4
2000s	0.4578 years	0.3245 years	0.6855 years	10
2010s	0.7557 years	0.7055 years	0.7866 years	9

Countries ranked near South Africa

150 Togo 0.7553 years compare
151 Cambodia 0.7522 years compare
152 Cameroon 0.7075 years compare
154 Namibia 0.6892 years compare
155 Bermuda 0.6875 years compare
156 Bahamas 0.6766 years compare

See the full ranking of 236 places →

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)

All data for South Africa →

Frequently asked questions

What is school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes in South Africa?: School life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes in South Africa was 0.7055 years in 2018, according to UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
What is the highest school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes recorded in South Africa?: The highest recorded value was 0.7866 years in 2012.
What is the lowest school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes recorded in South Africa?: The lowest recorded value was 0.2072 years in 1999.
How does South Africa rank for school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes?: South Africa ranks 153rd out of 191 groups with data for 2018.
Is school life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes rising or falling in South Africa?: Over the last ten years it is up 16.3%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
Where does this South Africa data come from?: The figures come from UNESCO Institute for Statistics, published as part of School life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes (years). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 23 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

About this data

Indicator: School life expectancy, pre-primary, both sexes (years)
Unit: years
Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage: 236 places, 7,887 data points, 1970–2020
Last refreshed: 07 August 2026

Number of years a person of school entrance age can expect to spend within the specified level of education. For a child of a certain age a, the school life expectancy is calculated as the sum of the age specific enrolment rates for the levels of education specified. The part of the enrolment that is not distributed by age is divided by the school-age population for the level of education they are enrolled in, and multiplied by the duration of that level of education. The result is then added to the sum of the age-specific enrolment rates. A relatively high SLE indicates greater probability for children to spend more years in education and higher overall retention within the education system. It must be noted that the expected number of years does not necessarily coincide with the expected number of grades of education completed, because of repetition. Since school life expectancy is an average based on participation in different levels of education, the expected number of years of schooling may be pulled down by the magnitude of children who never go to school. Those children who are in school may benefit from many more years of education than the average.