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Country

South Africa

Scores
58.6/100
Overall
40.4/100
Governance and accountability
63.3/100
Prevention
65.0/100
Healing
62.8/100
Justice

Eastern & Southern Africa and West & Central Africa

2nd

Overall

6th

Governance and accountability

1st

Prevention

2nd

Healing

3rd

Justice

Pathfinding Global Alliance

9th

Overall

18th

Governance and accountability

4th

Prevention

13th

Healing

10th

Justice

Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.

Ending Violence Against Children pledging process

12th

Overall

21st

Governance and accountability

6th

Prevention

15th

Healing

15th

Justice

Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.

G20

11th

Overall

13th

Governance and accountability

7th

Prevention

10th

Healing

11th

Justice

Shared rank — one or more countries have the same score.

Background indicators
GDP per capita
6253.37
Rule of Law Index
0.56
Gender Inequality Index (GII)
0.39
Women in parliament
44.9
Gender gap in educational attainment
1.0
LGBTQ Equality Index
71.0
Birth registration
89.0
Internet penetration rate
75.66
Lead child protection ministries or agencies
3.0
Child marriage
4.0
Online child sexual abuse
6.5
Skip to data
2nd
within Eastern & Southern Africa and West & Central Africa
out of 16 countries
2nd
in its upper middle income classification
out of 19 countries
19.7
million children in South Africa
represents 4.4% of the region's total population under the age of 18

South Africa is the only country to receive a score of 100 out of 100 for facilitating cross-border prosecution of sexual violence against children through extraterritoriality and extradition provisions.

Only 10 countries in the Index, including South Africa, Guatemala, Serbia, and Romania require background checks for people working in direct contact with children across settings.

Fewer than one-third of countries, including Argentina, Kenya, Nepal, South Africa, Venezuela, banned corporal punishment in all settings, while Australia and the United Kingdom have not.

 

This country’s score places it in the top third of those assessed in the Index

This high-ranking indicates ongoing and significant effort in establishing laws, policies, services, and accountability mechanisms to prevent and respond to sexual violence against children and adolescents. This country proves that strong systems and political commitment can drive meaningful impact.

Ongoing commitments in prevention, survivor-centered healing, and justice reform will be critical to sustain progress and ensure that protections reach every child.

The scoring provides a roadmap for further action. 

The Index evaluates countries against 23 indicators covering the foundational laws, policies, programs, and services governments should have in place to end sexual violence against children and adolescents. 

By using these indicators as a step-by-step guide, countries can make meaningful progress toward eliminating sexual violence in their country and improving their ranking in the next Index cycle.

Advocacy in action

Through school-based programs, Rays of Hope Community Development Foundation is helping create safe school environments in Alexandra, South Africa by raising awareness about the impact of gender based violence and harmful gender norms, and building a resilient community to stand together against violence in all its forms.

 

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Data driving change

Third Richest Nation

www.bravemovement.org/campaigns/third-richest-nation

A world without childhood violence would be $7 trillion richer. This nation isn’t real. Its wealth could be. Brave Movement's survivor-led advocacy campaign at the G20 in 2025 pressured decision makers to invest in prevention, healing and justice to create stronger, happier nations.

#BeBrave G7 Scorecard 2025

www.bravemovement.org/g7

By evaluating each G7 nation’s progress on vital policy measures we're drawing global attention to the global, silent pandemic of sexual violence against children. This is a crisis that undermines the G7's commitment to building secure, prosperous, and equitable societies. Kids need bold leadership and decisive action now to be safe and thrive.

Break the record

www.togetherforgirls.org/en/press/a-record-breaking-event-now-governments-must-deliver

We broke the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ for the most countries represented at a childhood violence summit! With 120 governments attending, this first ever Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children was the largest organized event to address this issue on a global scale. Most importantly, as a result, we also broke the world’s record of inaction against childhood sexual violence.