ZA

South Africa

Africa

South Africa ranks #55 of 197 tracked countries with an overall freedom score of 68.3/100.

Score

68.3

B-

How to read South Africa's freedom profile

With an overall score of 68.3/100, South Africa is broadly free, with clear room to improve in places. It ranks #55 of the 197 countries we track and sits within the Africa region, where it can be compared directly against its neighbours.

Its strongest freedom is Religion (8.9/10), while Political Participation (4.7/10) is where it scores lowest. That 4.2-point spread means South Africa's record is uneven, with real gaps between its strongest and weakest freedoms. The category breakdown below shows each of the ten freedoms in full, with the source behind every score.

Universal category breakdown

Religion

8.9A

Fraser HFI 2025 — Religion sub-index 8.9/10

Fraser HFIView source

Assembly & Association

8.7A

V-Dem 2025 — Freedom of Association index 0.870 (0–1)

V-DemView source

Freedom of Movement

8.0A-

Fraser HFI 2025 — Movement sub-index 8/10

Fraser HFIView source

Free Expression

7.5B+

RSF Press Freedom 2025 (75.7/100) · Freedom on the Net 2025 (73/100)

RSF + Freedom HouseView source

Equal Protection

7.4B

V-Dem 2025 — Equal Protection sub-index 0.740 (0–1)

V-DemView source

Economic Liberty

6.6B-

Fraser HFI 2025 — Economic Freedom sub-index 6.6/10

Fraser HFIView source

Property Rights

5.9C

Fraser HFI 2025 — Property Rights sub-index 5.9/10

Fraser HFIView source

Due Process

5.6C

WJP Rule of Law Index 2025 — Overall score 0.56/1 (x10 scale; blends Civil Justice + Criminal Justice + 6 other rule-of-law factors)

World Justice ProjectView source

Privacy

5.0C-

Editorial baseline — awaiting ingestion from the source index for this category.

EditorialEditorialView source

Political Participation

4.7D+

V-Dem 2025 — Participatory Democracy index 0.470 (0–1)

V-DemView source

What's next

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