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Highest Educational Attainment And Social Mobility Over Time

Gauteng City-Region ObservatoryRef: ORG/10.36634/TMSM1557

Official source

Source domain: gcro.ac.za

Collected on 31 July 2026

Always confirm details on the official source before acting.

Our copy (archived 31 July 2026)Official source

What this means

This document is a GCRO (Gauteng City-Region Observatory) “Vignette” titled “Highest educational attainment and social mobility over time” by Christian Hamann, published on 31 July 2026 (Vignette #45). It analyses Gauteng City-Region Observatory Quality of Life (QoL) survey data to compare educational attainment across birth cohorts (born before 1950, 1951–1990, and after 1991) and by population group, sex, and migration status. The vignette concludes that educational attainment increased over time for all population groups and sexes, with black Africans still furthest behind but showing substantial improvement, and that being born in Gauteng is associated with higher average years of schooling.

Facts

Places

Gauteng

Reference

ORG/10.36634/TMSM1557

Key Takeaways

  • GCRO Vignette #45
  • Title: Highest educational attainment and social mobility over time
  • Author: Christian Hamann
  • Date of publication: 31 July 2026
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.36634/TMSM1557
  • Data source: GCRO Quality of Life (QoL) survey (merged seven iterations)
  • Sample size: 118 885 respondents (interviewed at age 23+)
  • Birth cohorts analysed: before 1950; 1951–1990; after 1991
  • Key result: tertiary education increased from 25% (before 1950) to 33% (after 1991)
  • Key result: black Africans tertiary education increased from 23% to 33%
  • Migration result: born in Gauteng average 11.7 years vs 10.5 years elsewhere
  • Sex result: females’ mean years of schooling slightly higher for Gen Z (12.0 vs 11.8)
  • Christian Hamann
  • Graeme Götz
  • Dr Laven Naidoo
  • Dr Samkelisiwe Khanyile
  • Ebrahim-Khalil Hassen
  • Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO)
  • GCR Quality of Life (QoL) survey
  • OECD
  • Chow and Guppy (2021)
  • Branson and Ressom (2026)
  • Kitsoleris and Culo (2025)
  • Kousar et al (2025)
  • SA-TIED
  • WIDER UNU