South Africa — Inflation
Inflation, Consumer Prices (Annual %) for South Africa, 1960–2025.
Latest value · 2025
3.21%
Inflation, Consumer Prices (Annual %) · annual % · +148.7% since 1960
Inflation for South Africa was 3.21% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 66 years, from 1960 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 18.65% in 1986. The lowest was -0.69% in 2004 (about -4.6× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to 1.41% per year.
South Africa ranks 92 of 187 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 49%. The median for Sub-Saharan Africa is 3.51%, so South Africa sits below it. It peaked in 1986 and has fallen 83% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved down 29%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
3.21%
First (1960)
1.29%
Change
+148.7%
Highest
18.65%
in 1986
Lowest
-0.69%
in 2004
Average
7.62%
Annual growth (CAGR)
1.41%
Years of data
66
Recent years
| Year | annual % |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.21% |
| 2024 | 4.36% |
| 2023 | 6.08% |
| 2022 | 7.04% |
| 2021 | 4.62% |
| 2020 | 3.23% |
| 2019 | 4.1% |
| 2018 | 4.51% |
| 2017 | 5.19% |
| 2016 | 6.6% |
| 2015 | 4.52% |
| 2014 | 6.13% |
Reading this correctly. Annual percentage change in the cost to the average consumer of acquiring a basket of goods and services. A negative value means deflation. Figures are in annual %. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG — Inflation, Consumer Prices (Annual %). Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.