Facts & Statistics

Education statistics in South Africa

• The proportion of South African adults with a matric has increased from 25% in 1996 to 35% in 2006. The proportion of adults with no schooling has halved to 6% over the same period. (AMPS2006 RA)
• Of those working, the average monthly income of people with
  degrees is about R8,500. For those with matric it is R4,100 and
  R1,650 for those without matric (AMPS 2005)


• More than 1.1 million South Africans (3.67%) have a degree or
  better (up by nearly 140,000 people since last year). Another
  1.3 million (4.33%) have a diploma from a technikon. (AMPS 2005)


• 38% of adults younger than 45 have a matric or better, compared
  to 21% for those older than 45. Of these older South Africans,
  18% have no schooling at all, compared to 2.4% for younger adults.
  (AMPS 2004)


• 7% of South Africans adults have had no schooling at all and
  two thirds do not have a matric. (AMPS 2004)


• 69% of white adults have a matric or better. For Indians the
  figure is 47%, and 26% for blacks and coloureds (AMPS 2004)

Education statistics based on 2001 Census (website)

• 18% of the adult population has received no education at all,
  with only 20,4% having completed grade 12, based 2001 census statistics


• Across all provinces 51% of the population have entered high
  school


• 95% of children were enrolled in schools in 2001



• 94% of people living in the Western Cape have been to school


• 8.4% of the total population have a tertiary qualification


• Gauteng (12.6%) and the Western Cape (11.2%) populations have
  the highest number of people with tertiary qualifications


• 29.8% of white population aged 20+ years have completed post-school
  higher education, compared with 5.2% of the blacks population,
  14.9% of Indians and 4.9% of the coloured population

Cape Metro Education Statistics based on Census 1996 (source)

• No formal education 3%


• Completed primary schooling (standard 1-standard 5) 19%


• Completed secondary schooling 59%


• Completed a Degree/Diploma 13%



• Have a Masters or Doctoral qualification 1%


• Population currently in Primary School 11%


• Population currently in Secondary School 6%

Source: "A Socio-Economic Profile of the Cape
Metropolitan Area" by the Cape Metropolitan Council, based
on the Population Census conducted by SA Stats in October 1996.

Durban Metro Education Statistics based on Census
2001 (source)

10.0% of residents aged 20 and over have received no schooling,
13.3% have had some primary school, 5.7% have completed only primary
school, 34.6% have had some high school education, 26.8% have finished
only high school, and 9.6% have an education higher than the high
school level. Overall, 36.4% of residents have completed high school.

Trends in Education for Johannesburg based on Census 1996 and Census 2001