South Africa—Political Stability Score (0-100)
South Africa's political stability score (0-100) was 58.9 in 2025, ranking #142 out of 207 countries. This represents a +3.1% change from 2024. Over the past 25 years, the highest recorded value was 68.8 (2007) and the lowest was 52.2 (2021). Data sourced from the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators.
Historical Data
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 58.9 | +3.1% |
| 2024 | 57.1 | +4.8% |
| 2023 | 54.6 | +1.5% |
| 2022 | 53.7 | +3.1% |
| 2021 | 52.2 | -14.7% |
| 2020 | 61.1 | +2.5% |
| 2019 | 59.7 | -1.1% |
| 2018 | 60.3 | +2.6% |
| 2017 | 58.8 | -1.4% |
| 2016 | 59.7 | -0.8% |
| 2015 | 60.2 | -2.5% |
| 2014 | 61.7 | +0.8% |
| 2013 | 61.2 | -4.0% |
| 2012 | 63.7 | -2.0% |
| 2011 | 65.1 | +0.2% |
| 2010 | 64.9 | +0.4% |
| 2009 | 64.7 | -1.2% |
| 2008 | 65.5 | -4.8% |
| 2007 | 68.8 | +5.0% |
| 2006 | 65.5 | +0.2% |
| 2005 | 65.3 | -0.2% |
| 2004 | 65.5 | +6.7% |
| 2003 | 61.4 | +2.7% |
| 2002 | 59.7 | -0.7% |
| 2000 | 60.1 |
Top Countries — Political Stability Score (0-100)
| # | Country | Value | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andorra | 93 | 2025 |
| 2 | Liechtenstein | 92.3 | 2025 |
| 3 | Marshall Islands | 92.2 | 2025 |
| 4 | Micronesia | 92.2 | 2025 |
| 5 | Brunei | 91.9 | 2025 |
| 6 | Cayman Islands | 91.7 | 2025 |
| 7 | San Marino | 90.6 | 2025 |
| 8 | Tuvalu | 90.5 | 2025 |
| 9 | American Samoa | 90.1 | 2025 |
| 10 | Bhutan | 90 | 2025 |
About This Indicator
Definition
Political Stability (PV) captures perceptions of the extent to which political power and governance are secure from destabilization, and of the likelihood that authority will be challenged or altered through violent, coercive, or unconstitutional means. Governance score is a linear transformation of the governance estimate using hypothetical worst-case and base-case countries. It is an absolute score ranging from 0-100. Larger values correspond to better governance.
Methodology
Original contributors: Detailed documentation of the WGI, interactive tools for exploring the data, and full access to the underlying source data available at www.govindicators.org. Worldwide Governance Indicators, 2025 Revision, World Bank (www.govindicators.org), Accessed on 12/15/2025. And: World Bank (2025). “The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Revised Methodology for Measuring Governance Using Perception Data.” Washington, DC: World Bank Group. The 2025 revision builds upon the original WGI methodology which was introduced in 1999 and summarized by the following paper: Kaufmann, Daniel & Aart C. Kraay. (2024). “The Worldwide Governance Indicators: Methodology and 2024 Update.” Policy Research Working Paper. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
Unit
governance score (0–100)