South Africa vs Zimbabwe

South Africa vs Zimbabwe: GDP growth

GDP growth in 2025: 1.1% a year in South Africa and 8.3% a year in Zimbabwe, by IMF estimates. In 2025 the value was higher in Zimbabwe, by 7.2 percentage points, or 7.43 times that in South Africa.

Watch it change on the map

% a year · IMF

South Africa vs Zimbabwe: GDP growthGDP growth in 2025: 1.1% a year in South Africa and 8.3% a year in Zimbabwe, by IMF estimates. In 2025 the value was higher in Zimbabwe, by 7.2 percentage points, or 7.43 times that in South Africa.
South AfricaZimbabweIMF projection (World Economic Outlook, October 2026)

What the numbers say

  • Zimbabwe has been higher since 2021, when it overtook South Africa.
  • In 2025, South Africa ranked 120 and Zimbabwe ranked 8 of 143 countries, counting from the highest.
  • The IMF projection (World Economic Outlook, October 2026) puts South Africa at 1.8% a year and Zimbabwe at 4.2% a year in 2031.

Every year

% a year · IMF

YearSouth AfricaZimbabwe
20251.18.3
20240.51.7
20230.85.3
20222.15.7
20214.97.9
2020-6.2-11.5
20190.3-6.7
20181.64.3
20171.29.8
20160.71.2
20151.32.1
20141.42.4
20132.52
20122.415.4
20113.214.3
2010319.6
2009-1.57.4
20083.2-16.3
20075.4-3.4
20065.6-3.6
20055.3-7.4
20044.6-6.3
20032.9-16.2
20023.7-7.7
20012.7-0.5
20004.2-4.2
19992.4-1.1
19980.5–
19972.6–
19964.3–
19953.1–
19943.2–
19931.2–
1992-2.1–
1991-1–
1990-0.3–
19892.4–
19884.2–
19872.1–
19860–
1985-1.2–
19845.1–
1983-1.8–
1982-0.4–
19815.4–
19806.6–
IMF projection (World Economic Outlook, October 2026) · 2026–2031
YearSouth AfricaZimbabwe
202615
20271.33.5
20281.55
20291.74.2
20301.84.2
20311.84.2

Each country on its own

Good to know

  • How much the economy grew or shrank in a year, after inflation.
  • Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook, October 2026.
  • The dashed line is the IMF projection (World Economic Outlook, October 2026), a scenario rather than a forecast.
  • Ranks count the 143 countries with a value in 2025, highest first.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time

South Africa vs Zimbabwe

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