World Development Indicators

Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above): South Africa

Most recent: 91.15 (2024)
Earliest: 76.2 (1980)
Highest: 95.02 (2019)
Years reported: 13 of 45 in the span
Member state: South Africa at the United Nations

Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above), 1980–2024. Bars, not a line: a line drawn across a year the source does not report would invent an observation a reader could not tell from a measured one.

The World Bank reports 13 of the 45 years between 1980 and 2024 for South Africa. The missing 32 are drawn as gaps, because a gap is what they are.

Every year reported

Year	Adult literacy rate
2024	91.15
2021	90
2019	95.02
2016	91.74
2015	94.37
2014	94.14
2012	93.73
2011	93.1
2010	92.88
2009	92.89
2007	88.72
1996	82.4
1980	76.2

World Bank, World Development Indicators — SE.ADT.LITR.ZS, available under CC BY 4.0.

Where this page comes from

World Bank Open Data — CC BY 4.0 · source