Sao Tome and Principe
Sub-Saharan Africa · Lower middle income· 236K inhabitants
Last updated: November 1, 2025
Fragile/Conflict-Affected Country: This country is classified as experiencing institutional and social fragility. Data may not reflect the current situation due to instability.
Note: This country is classified as a microstate (population under 300,000) and is indexed but not included in GEFRI global or regional rankings. Microstates are excluded from rankings because their unique population size, geographic scale, and special conditions can result in atypical data patterns that may not be directly comparable with larger countries. This helps ensure that rankings are more meaningful and fair for all measured countries.
Futures readiness profile
Key insights: Sao Tome and Principe
Sao Tome and Principe lags behind global peers in Infrastructure (44, 25th percentile), Human Capital (39, 27th percentile), Innovation (18, 2nd percentile), and School Access and Gender Parity (10, 28th percentile). The remaining dimension is closer to the global average, but does not demonstrate global leadership or advanced futures readiness. Broad-based, high-impact interventions are needed to drive overall education futures readiness and resilience.
Composite GEFRI Score
30.79
22nd percentile
Higher scores indicate greater education futures readiness
Component scores
School Access and Gender Parity10.00
Below global avg. · 28th %-tile
Infrastructure43.82
Below global avg. · 25th %-tile
Measures the availability and quality of basic digital and electrical infrastructure that supports education.
Governance43.63
Near the global average · 49th %-tile
Captures the effectiveness and quality of policies, regulations, and governance that shape the educational environment.
Human Capital38.57
Below global avg. · 27th %-tile
Assesses the educational attainment and capacity of a country’s population, focusing on access and completion at secondary and tertiary levels as well as literacy.
Innovation17.93
Below global avg. · 2nd %-tile
Reflects a country’s capacity to foster, produce, and apply new knowledge and technology in society and education.
Regional peers: Sub-Saharan Africa
| Global rank | Regional rank | Country | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | 1 | South Africa | 57.46 |
| 69 | 2 | Mauritius | 57.15 |
| — | — | Seychelles(microstate) | 56.38 |
| 75 | 3 | Botswana | 55.79 |
| 112 | 4 | Namibia | 44.52 |
| 116 | 5 | Equatorial Guinea | 40.82 |
| 117 | 6 | Ghana | 40.79 |
| 120 | 7 | Cabo Verde | 39.65 |
| 124 | 8 | Eswatini | 37.11 |
| 127 | 9 | Gabon | 35.25 |
| 130 | 10 | Kenya | 33.75 |
| 132 | 11 | Senegal | 32.90 |
| 133 | 12 | Rwanda | 32.79 |
| 135 | 13 | Cote d'Ivoire | 31.31 |
| 138 | 14 | Lesotho | 30.80 |
| — | — | Sao Tome and Principe(microstate) | 30.79 |
| 140 | 15 | Gambia, The | 30.16 |
| 141 | 16 | Zambia | 29.98 |
| 143 | 17 | Zimbabwe | 28.03 |
| 145 | 18 | Tanzania | 27.71 |
| 146 | 19 | Benin | 27.46 |
| 148 | 20 | Togo | 27.30 |
| 149 | 21 | Angola | 27.12 |
| 150 | 22 | Cameroon | 26.66 |
| 151 | 23 | Sierra Leone | 25.51 |
| 152 | 24 | Nigeria | 25.34 |
| 154 | 25 | Mauritania | 24.95 |
| 155 | 26 | Congo, Rep. | 24.86 |
| 156 | 27 | Comoros | 24.58 |
| 158 | 28 | Mozambique | 23.72 |
| 159 | 29 | Uganda | 23.62 |
| 160 | 30 | Ethiopia | 23.20 |
| 161 | 31 | Guinea-Bissau | 23.13 |
| 162 | 32 | Guinea | 22.69 |
| 163 | 33 | Madagascar | 22.51 |
| 164 | 34 | Malawi | 22.41 |
| 165 | 35 | Burkina Faso | 22.16 |
| 166 | 36 | Mali | 21.92 |
| 167 | 37 | Liberia | 19.95 |
| 168 | 38 | Congo, Dem. Rep. | 19.22 |
| 169 | 39 | Niger | 18.89 |
| 170 | 40 | Sudan | 18.72 |
| 172 | 41 | Burundi | 17.51 |
| 173 | 42 | Eritrea | 17.07 |
| 174 | 43 | South Sudan | 15.84 |
| 175 | 44 | Somalia, Fed. Rep. | 15.50 |
| 176 | 45 | Chad | 13.99 |
| 177 | 46 | Central African Republic | 13.93 |