country profile

Eswatini

Sub-Saharan AfricaLower middle income1.26M population

Last updated October 1, 2026

Emerging readiness

Composite GEFRI Score

Infrastructure is strongest, but Innovation and Governance remain constraints

Eswatini demonstrates early-stage readiness to meet the challenges and opportunities of education in a rapidly changing world (35th percentile worldwide). Investments are generating initial gains, yet substantial gaps persist in several dimensions.

49.00Composite score

Global percentile: 35th
Global rank: #116
Regional rank: #7
Viewing data for

Progressing readiness

Infrastructure

70.26

39th percentileGlobal avg. 70.44

Emerging readiness

Human Capital

56.74

32nd percentileGlobal avg. 66.18

Severely underprepared

Innovation

31.77

20th percentileGlobal avg. 48.64

Critically unprepared

Governance

28.79

20th percentileGlobal avg. 47.24

Emerging readiness

Access & Parity

57.45

41st percentileGlobal avg. 60.85

Country profile

Eswatini remains in the emerging-readiness range, with progress visible but major gaps still limiting future readiness. Its weakest results are in Innovation (32, 20th percentile) and Governance (29, 20th percentile). These gaps continue to weigh on overall readiness.

Uneven scores across dimensions show where readiness conditions are less aligned. Limited tertiary enrollment narrows future talent pipelines and innovation capacity.

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. Gender parity across secondary pathways reflects sustained commitment to equitable participation.

Infrastructure and School Access and Gender Parity present a near-term leapfrog opportunity: performance is just below the global average, backed by enough observed data to support forward planning.

Some indicators are imputed, so the profile should be read with moderate caution.

Key insights

Falls below many peers at the 35th percentile.

Places 116th worldwide.

Holds a regional position of 7th within Sub-Saharan Africa.

Scores range from Infrastructure (70.3) to Governance (28.8), reflecting variation across dimensions.

Leads regional peers most clearly in Access & Parity.

Regional peers: Sub-Saharan Africa

Composite GEFRI Score

Global rank	Regional rank	Country	Score
60	1	Mauritius	69.61
63	2	South Africa	69.19
—	—	SeychellesMicrostate	64.29
85	3	Botswana	63.09
97	4	Namibia	59.08
100	5	Ghana	58.30
115	6	Cabo Verde	49.23
116	7	Eswatini	49.00
123	8	Rwanda	44.68
127	9	Kenya	43.15
128	10	Senegal	43.13
129	11	Gabon	43.09
130	12	Gambia, The	42.98
132	13	Cote d'Ivoire	41.42
134	14	Equatorial Guinea	41.18
138	15	Zambia	38.41
139	16	Lesotho	38.37
—	—	Sao Tome and PrincipeFCSMicrostate	37.61
141	17	Togo	37.45
144	18	Benin	36.70
145	19	Zimbabwe	36.55
147	20	Tanzania	35.50
148	21	CameroonFCS	35.19
149	22	Mauritania	34.31
150	23	ComorosFCS	34.12
151	24	Sierra Leone	33.64
152	25	Congo, Rep.FCS	32.41
153	26	Angola	32.38
154	27	Burkina FasoFCS	32.36
155	28	Uganda	32.33
157	29	NigeriaFCS	31.96
158	30	MalawiFCS	30.65
159	31	MozambiqueFCS	30.61
160	32	EthiopiaFCS	30.53
161	33	Madagascar	29.66
162	34	MaliFCS	29.64
164	35	Guinea	28.53
166	36	Guinea-BissauFCS	27.88
168	37	Liberia	25.30
169	38	Congo, Dem. Rep.FCS	24.51
170	39	NigerFCS	24.18
171	40	Burundi	24.14
172	41	SudanFCS	22.72
173	42	EritreaFCS	20.93
174	43	ChadFCS	20.88
175	44	SomaliaFCS	20.58
176	45	Central African RepublicFCS	20.48
177	46	South SudanFCS	18.93