Country profile

Sao Tome and Principe

Sub-Saharan Africa Lower middle income236K inhabitants

Last updated April 1, 2026

Fragile/Conflict-Affected Country: This country is classified as experiencing institutional and social fragility. Data may not reflect the current situation due to instability.

Microstate notice: This country is classified as a microstate (population under 300,000) and is indexed but not included in GEFRI global or regional rankings.

Composite GEFRI Score

Severely underprepared

Sao Tome and Principe is severely underprepared (26th percentile worldwide). Key structural conditions limit capacity to plan, implement, and sustain forward-looking reforms. Higher scores indicate a system that is better prepared to anticipate and shape the future of learning.

32.59Composite score

Global percentile: 26th
Global rank: Not ranked (microstate)
Regional rank: Not ranked (microstate)
Viewing data for

Infrastructure

51.41

28th percentileGlobal avg. 59.93

Human Capital

44.27

35th percentileGlobal avg. 47.03

Innovation

18.78

4th percentileGlobal avg. 42.53

Governance

44.65

49th percentileGlobal avg. 47.71

Access & Parity

3.86

14th percentileGlobal avg. 43.89

Country profile

Sao Tome and Principe trails global peers in Innovation (19, 4th percentile) and School Access and Gender Parity (4, 14th percentile). A coordinated reform effort is needed to strengthen education futures readiness.

Wide gaps between dimensions reveal structural weaknesses that slow coordinated progress. Literacy or tertiary enrollment gaps thin the talent pipeline and limit the country’s capacity to develop future-ready skills.

Sparse R&D investment and a small research workforce slow experimentation and delay new ideas from reaching learners. Policy execution and regulatory capacity remain weak, leaving reforms fragmented and hard to sustain. Girls outperform boys in secondary pathways, adding pressure to address male dropout risks.

Governance and Human Capital present a near-term leapfrog opportunity: performance is just below the global average, backed by enough observed data to support forward planning.

Note: Several indicators use imputed values. Policymakers and planners should validate results further before committing to major initiatives.

Key insights

Falls below many peers at the 26th percentile.
Scores range from Infrastructure (51.4) to Access & Parity (3.9), reflecting variation across dimensions.
Leads regional peers most clearly in Infrastructure.

Regional peers: Sub-Saharan Africa

Composite GEFRI score

Global rank	Regional rank	Country	Score
66	1	Mauritius	56.93
71	2	South Africa	55.84
72	3	Botswana	55.47
—	—	SeychellesMicrostate	54.64
107	4	Ghana	41.58
110	5	Namibia	41.32
112	6	Cabo Verde	39.69
116	7	Sierra Leone	38.20
119	8	Eswatini	37.81
126	9	Senegal	35.30
127	10	Gabon	34.90
—	—	Sao Tome and PrincipeFCSMicrostate	32.59
132	11	Kenya	32.54
134	12	Rwanda	32.06
135	13	Cote d'Ivoire	31.86
137	14	Gambia, The	31.20
140	15	Equatorial Guinea	30.11
142	16	Lesotho	29.23
143	17	Zambia	29.16
144	18	Benin	28.96
145	19	ZimbabweFCS	28.35
146	20	Tanzania	27.79
147	21	CameroonFCS	27.78
148	22	Togo	27.49
150	23	ComorosFCS	26.35
151	24	Angola	25.45
152	25	Mauritania	25.40
153	26	Congo, Rep.FCS	24.57
154	27	NigeriaFCS	24.55
155	28	EthiopiaFCS	24.03
157	29	MozambiqueFCS	23.21
159	30	MaliFCS	22.93
160	31	Madagascar	22.78
162	32	Uganda	22.38
163	33	Guinea	21.89
164	34	Burkina FasoFCS	21.69
165	35	Malawi	21.49
166	36	SudanFCS	20.12
167	37	Liberia	20.10
168	38	NigerFCS	19.57
169	39	Guinea-BissauFCS	19.43
171	40	EritreaFCS	18.16
172	41	BurundiFCS	17.57
173	42	Congo, Dem. Rep.FCS	17.42
174	43	Somalia, Fed. Rep.FCS	15.20
175	44	ChadFCS	15.05
176	45	South SudanFCS	14.26
177	46	Central African RepublicFCS	13.38