South Africa is the 60 most competitive nation in the world out of 140 countries ranked in the 2019 edition of the Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum. Competitiveness Rank in South Africa averaged 51.69 from 2007 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 67.00 in 2018 and a record low of 35.00 in 2007. source: World Economic Forum



Related Last Previous Unit Reference
Bankruptcies 100.00 126.00 Companies Dec 2025
Business Confidence 44.00 39.00 points Dec 2025
Capacity Utilization 77.80 78.30 percent Sep 2025
Car Registrations 37190.00 35579.00 Units Jan 2026
Changes in Inventories 25742.00 18711.00 ZAR Million Sep 2025
SACCI Business Confidence 131.40 133.20 points Jan 2026
Composite Leading Indicator 101.22 101.11 points Jan 2026
Corruption Index 41.00 41.00 Points Dec 2025
Corruption Rank 81.00 82.00 Dec 2025
Electricity Production 17477.00 18325.00 Gigawatt-hour Dec 2025
Gold Production YoY 1.10 -6.00 percent Dec 2025
Manufacturing Production YoY -1.40 -2.00 percent Dec 2025
Manufacturing Production MoM -1.20 -2.10 percent Dec 2025
Leading Business Cycle Indicator MoM 1.40 0.40 percent Nov 2025
Mining Production YoY 2.50 -2.40 percent Dec 2025
Total New Vehicle Sales 50070.00 48980.00 Units Jan 2026


South Africa Competitiveness Rank
The most recent 2018 edition of Global Competitiveness Report assesses 140 economies. In 2018, the World Economic Forum introduced a new methodology emphasizing the role of human capital, innovation, resilience and agility, as not only drivers but also defining features of economic success in the 4th Industrial Revolution. As a result, the GCI scale changed to 1 to 100 from 1 to 7, with higher average score meaning higher degree of competitiveness. The report is made up of 98 variables organized into twelve pillars with the most important including: institutions; infrastructure; ICT adoption; macroeconomic stability; health; skills; product market; labour market; financial system; market size; business dynamism; and innovation capability.
Actual Previous Highest Lowest Dates Unit Frequency
60.00 67.00 67.00 35.00 2007 - 2019 Yearly