Sao Tome and Principe

Sub-Saharan Africa · Lower middle income· 231K inhabitants

Last updated: June 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 (47, 27th percentile), School Access and Gender Parity (23, 33rd percentile), and Innovation (18, 2nd percentile). The remaining dimensions are closer to the global average, but none 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

36.12

29th percentile

Higher scores indicate greater education futures readiness

Component scores

School Access and Gender Parity23.31

Below global avg. · 33rd %-tile

Infrastructure46.86

Below global avg. · 27th %-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 Capital48.87

Near the global average · 38th %-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
60	1	Mauritius	60.09
68	2	South Africa	57.27
—	—	Seychelles(microstate)	56.74
85	3	Botswana	53.72
105	4	Namibia	48.12
107	5	Cabo Verde	47.58
118	6	Ghana	41.74
119	7	Equatorial Guinea	41.28
—	—	Sao Tome and Principe(microstate)	36.12
127	8	Gabon	35.02
128	9	Senegal	34.18
129	10	Kenya	34.12
133	11	Cote d'Ivoire	33.34
134	12	Rwanda	33.10
135	13	Eswatini	33.06
139	14	Lesotho	30.97
140	15	Zambia	30.52
142	16	Gambia, The	28.72
144	17	Tanzania	28.35
145	18	Benin	27.73
146	19	Angola	27.61
147	20	Togo	27.50
148	21	Cameroon	27.15
149	22	Zimbabwe	27.07
151	23	Congo, Rep.	26.36
152	24	Mauritania	25.68
154	25	Nigeria	25.12
155	26	Sierra Leone	24.55
156	27	Comoros	23.93
157	28	Mozambique	23.92
158	29	Uganda	23.55
160	30	Ethiopia	23.25
161	31	Madagascar	23.19
162	32	Malawi	23.00
163	33	Guinea-Bissau	22.86
164	34	Guinea	22.76
165	35	Burkina Faso	22.30
166	36	Mali	22.23
167	37	Congo, Dem. Rep.	20.88
168	38	Sudan	20.00
169	39	Liberia	19.71
170	40	Niger	19.70
172	41	Eritrea	18.63
173	42	Burundi	18.41
174	43	Somalia	17.00
175	44	Chad	14.27
176	45	Central African Republic	13.09
177	46	South Sudan	11.87