South Africa: Share of manufacturing

The latest value from 2025 is 12.25 percent, a decline from 12.8 percent in 2024. In comparison, the world average is 12.26 percent, based on data from 130 countries. Historically, the average for South Africa from 1960 to 2025 is 18.99 percent. The minimum value, 11.73 percent, was reached in 2020 while the maximum of 24.86 percent was recorded in 1981. See the global rankings for that indicator or use the country comparator to compare trends over time.

The importance of manufacturing in the economy of South Africa and other countries is measured as the value added of manufacturing as percent of GDP. Manufacturing is part of the industrial sector of the economy.

Definition: Manufacturing includes industries classified in ISIC (Rev. 3) major division C and is defined as the physical or chemical transformation of materials or components into new products. Value added is the contribution to the economy by a producer or an industry or an institutional sector, which is estimated by the total value of output produced and deducting the total value of intermediate consumption of goods and services used to produce that output. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.