Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in South Africa

South Africa: Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural was 0.8% in 2020. ▼ Falling

Latest (2020)
0.8%
Change on year
down 0.0%
World rank
34th
of 84 countries
All-time high
1.0%
in 1995
All-time low
0.8%
in 2008
Years of data
19
1995–2020

Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in South Africa, 1995–2020

00.20.40.60.811995200720201995: 1 % of rural workers in the service sector2000: 0.95 % of rural workers in the service sector2001: 0.941 % of rural workers in the service sector2002: 0.977 % of rural workers in the service sector2003: 0.969 % of rural workers in the service sector2004: 0.979 % of rural workers in the service sector2008: 0.759 % of rural workers in the service sector2009: 0.772 % of rural workers in the service sector2010: 0.764 % of rural workers in the service sector2011: 0.785 % of rural workers in the service sector2012: 0.782 % of rural workers in the service sector2013: 0.792 % of rural workers in the service sector2014: 0.802 % of rural workers in the service sector2015: 0.815 % of rural workers in the service sector2016: 0.804 % of rural workers in the service sector2017: 0.799 % of rural workers in the service sector2018: 0.814 % of rural workers in the service sector2019: 0.811 % of rural workers in the service sector2020: 0.811 % of rural workers in the service sector

Source: World Bank. Measured in % of rural workers in the service sector.

Analysis

South Africa recorded 0.8% for wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in 2020.

The figure is up 6.1% over ten years.

Over the whole period, wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in South Africa peaked at 1.0% in 1995 and was at its lowest, 0.8%, in 2008.

South Africa ranks 34th of 84 countries on this measure, in the middle of the range.

The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 19 years of available data.

Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in South Africa, year by year

Annual values for Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural (% of rural workers in the service sector) in South Africa, 1995 to 2020.
Year % of rural workers in the service sector Change
1995 1.0%
2000 0.9% -5.0%
2001 0.9% -0.9%
2002 1.0% +3.8%
2003 1.0% -0.8%
2004 1.0% +1.0%
2008 0.8% -22.4%
2009 0.8% +1.6%
2010 0.8% -0.9%
2011 0.8% +2.7%
2012 0.8% -0.3%
2013 0.8% +1.2%
2014 0.8% +1.3%
2015 0.8% +1.6%
2016 0.8% -1.4%
2017 0.8% -0.5%
2018 0.8% +1.8%
2019 0.8% -0.3%
2020 0.8% -0.0%

South Africa compared with similar countries

  • South Africa's 0.8% is above the median for upper middle income countries, which is 0.7%, 1.2× the median. (25 countries reporting)
  • South Africa's 0.8% is above the median for Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.4%, 2.0× the median. (12 countries reporting)

Averages by decade

DecadeAverage LowestHighest Years
1990s 1.0% 1.0% 1.0% 1
2000s 0.9% 0.8% 1.0% 7
2010s 0.8% 0.8% 0.8% 10
2020s 0.8% 0.8% 0.8% 1

Countries ranked near South Africa

  1. 31 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 0.9% compare
  2. 32 Belgium 0.8% compare
  3. 33 Czechia 0.8% compare
  4. 35 Spain 0.8% compare
  5. 36 Georgia 0.8% compare
  6. 37 Palestine, State of 0.8% compare

See the full ranking of 84 places →

More reference data data for South Africa

All data for South Africa →

Frequently asked questions

What is wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in South Africa?
Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in South Africa was 0.8% in 2020, according to the World Bank.
What is the highest wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural recorded in South Africa?
The highest recorded value was 1.0% in 1995.
What is the lowest wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural recorded in South Africa?
The lowest recorded value was 0.8% in 2008.
How does South Africa rank for wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural?
South Africa ranks 34th out of 84 countries with data for 2020.
Is wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural rising or falling in South Africa?
Over the last ten years it is up 6.1%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
Where does this South Africa data come from?
The figures come from the World Bank, published as part of Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural (% of rural workers in the service sector). Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.

Download this data

CSV · JSON — 19 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data).

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in South Africa. Statizoid. Retrieved 13 September 2026, from https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/wage-employment-in-services-aged-15-64-rural-percent-of-rural-workers-in-the-service/south-africa/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://reference.statizoid.com/stat/wage-employment-in-services-aged-15-64-rural-percent-of-rural-workers-in-the-service/south-africa/">Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural in South Africa</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Wage employment in services, aged 15-64, rural (% of rural workers in the service sector)
Unit
% of rural workers in the service sector
Source
World Bank
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
84 places, 1,136 data points, 1970–2021
Last refreshed