South Africa's data, made clear

South Africa's official unemployment rate (strict definition, ages 15–64) rose 0.9 percentage points to 33.6% in Q2 2026. The number of unemployed persons increased by 345,000 to 8.5 million while employment fell by 16,000 to 16.7 million. Separately, the combined rate of unemployment and the potential labour force (LU3) was 43.8%. LU3 is a different measure from the former 'expanded unemployment rate', which Stats SA stopped reporting after Q2 2025, and the two should not be compared directly.

South Africa's real GDP contracted 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in Q2 2026 (seasonally adjusted, constant 2015 prices), after growth of 0.4% in Q1 — ending six consecutive quarters of expansion. Mining (-3.0%), trade (-1.9%) and manufacturing (-1.8%) were the main drags; finance (+0.3%) and personal services (+0.6%) grew. On the expenditure side, household consumption rose 0.4%, fixed investment fell 0.2% and net exports subtracted 1.1 percentage points. The estimate is preliminary: Stats SA's rebased (base year 2022) and benchmarked national accounts, expected in October 2026, may revise it.

South Africa's headline CPI was 4.5% year-on-year in September 2026, up from 4.4% in August and 4.3% in July; the index rose 0.4% between August and September. Inflation peaked at 5.0% in June, the highest since June 2024. Transport (10.8%, contributing 1.5 percentage points), housing and utilities (5.2%, 1.3 points) and insurance and financial services (5.4%, 0.6 points) were the main contributors. The SARB's inflation target is 3% with a tolerance band of ±1 percentage point.

South Africa's estimated mid-year (30 June) population for 2026 is 63,522,380 according to Stats SA's Mid-Year Population Estimates, an increase of 759,980 on 2025. Annual growth is about 1.2%. Stats SA notes each release revises the whole 2002–2026 series, so figures should not be compared with earlier publications. The 2022 Census counted 62.0 million; mid-year estimates and Census counts are different measures.

The national senior certificate (matric) pass rate for the 2025 academic year was 88%, the highest on record and about 0.7 percentage points above 2024 (87.3%). Over 656,000 candidates passed; more than 900,000 full-time and part-time candidates wrote, the largest cohort ever. Bachelor's passes (university entrance) were 46% of passes — down from 48% in 2024 — although a record 345,000+ candidates qualified for degree study. All nine provinces were above 80%; KwaZulu-Natal was highest at 90.6%.

Total murder cases reported nationally for the 2023/24 financial year (April 2023 – March 2024). This is the first decline in four years, equating to approximately 72 murders per day. The rate is 41.9 per 100,000 population.