You can grade your performance in matric exams in light of the overall pass rates by province. Every year, South Africa organizes its matric exams for Matriculants all over South Africa.
The province of Limpopo performed least in Matric examinations with an average provincial Matric Pass Rate from 2010 just under 70%.
On the other hand, The Free State has the highest Matric pass rate. The province has been getting the highest Matric pass rate (above 80%) since 2016.
Before, checking the performances, let us first see the number of candidates who wrote these examinations.
Number of Matric Exams Candidates from 2010 to 2021
Here is the total number of candidates who wrote the NSC Matric Exams every year from 2010:
| Year | Number of Candidates |
| 2010 | 537 543 |
| 2011 | 496 090 |
| 2012 | 623 897 |
| 2013 | 654 723 |
| 2014 | 688 660 |
| 2015 | 799 306 |
| 2016 | 828 020 |
| 2017 | 651 707 |
| 2018 | 796 542 |
| 2019 | 787 171 |
| 2020 | 1 058 699 |
| 2021 | 897 163 |
Here is the list of Matric pass rates/percentages according to provinces:
The next series of subheadings show the pass rates for the different provinces from 2010 till date. No performance percentage in any of the province is below 60% across the 12 years.
Gauteng Pass Rate
Here are the Matric Pass Rates for Gauteng from 2016 to 2021:
- 2010: 79%
- 2011: 81%
- 2012: 84%
- 2013: 87%
- 2014: 85%
- 2015: 84%
- 2016: 87%
- 2017: 86%
- 2018: 89%
- 2019: 87%
- 2020: 84%
- 2021: 83%
- 2022: 84.40%
Western Cape Pass Rate
The Matric Pass Rates for the Western Cape from 2016 to 2021 were as follows:
- 2010: 77%
- 2011: 83%
- 2012: 83%
- 2013: 85%
- 2014: 83%
- 2015: 85%
- 2016: 88%
- 2017: 84%
- 2018: 83%
- 2019: 82%
- 2020: 80%
- 2021: 81%
- 2022: 81.40%
KwaZulu-Natal Pass Rate
Here are the Matric Pass Rates for KwaZulu-Natal from 2016 to 2021:
- 2010: 71%
- 2011: 68%
- 2012: 73%
- 2013: 77%
- 2014: 70%
- 2015: 61%
- 2016: 66%
- 2017: 74%
- 2018: 77%
- 2019: 81%
- 2020: 78%
- 2021: 77%
- 2022: 83.00%
Free State Pass Rate
The Matric Pass Rates for the Free State from 2016 to 2021 were as follows:
- 2010: 71%
- 2011: 76%
- 2012: 81%
- 2013: 87%
- 2014: 82%
- 2015: 82%
- 2016: 88%
- 2017: 90%
- 2018: 91%
- 2019: 88%
- 2020: 85%
- 2021: 86%
- 2022: 88.50%
North West Pass Rate
Here are the Matric Pass Rates for the North West from 2016 to 2021:
- 2010: 76%
- 2011: 78%
- 2012: 80%
- 2013: 87%
- 2014: 85%
- 2015: 82%
- 2016: 83%
- 2017: 82%
- 2018: 84%
- 2019: 87%
- 2020: 76%
- 2021: 78%
- 2022: 79.80%
Eastern Cape Matric Pass Rate
The Matric Pass Rates for the Eastern Cape from 2016 to 2021 were as follows:
- 2010: 58%
- 2011: 58%
- 2012: 62%
- 2013: 65%
- 2014: 65%
- 2015: 57%
- 2016: 63%
- 2017: 66%
- 2018: 71%
- 2019: 77%
- 2020: 68%
- 2021: 73%
- 2022: 77.30%
Limpopo Pass Rate
Here are the Matric Pass Rates for Limpopo from 2016 to 2021:
- 2010: 58%
- 2011: 64%
- 2012: 67%
- 2013: 72%
- 2014: 73%
- 2015: 66%
- 2016: 63%
- 2017: 67%
- 2018: 71%
- 2019: 73%
- 2020: 68%
- 2021: 67%
- 2022: 72.10%
Mpumalanga Matric Pass Rate
The Matric Pass Rates for Mpumalanga from 2016 to 2021 were as follows:
- 2010: 57%
- 2011: 65%
- 2012: 70%
- 2013: 78%
- 2014: 79%
- 2015: 79%
- 2016: 77%
- 2017: 77%
- 2018: 80%
- 2019: 80%
- 2020: 74%
- 2021: 74% (73.6%)
- 2022: 76.80%
Northern Cape Pass Rate
Here are the Matric Pass Rates for the Northern Cape from 2016 to 2021:
- 2010: 72%
- 2011: 69%
- 2012: 75%
- 2013: 75%
- 2014: 76%
- 2015: 69%
- 2016: 79%
- 2017: 78%
- 2018: 75%
- 2019: 77%
- 2020: 66%
- 2021: 71%
- 2022: 74.20%
Overall South African Matric Results Pass rate
South Africa’s overall matric pass rate – 80.10%.
Here is the list of the National Matric Results Pass rates from 2010 to 2022 –
- 2010: 68%
- 2011: 70%
- 2012: 74%
- 2013: 78%
- 2014: 76%
- 2015: 71%
- 2016: 73%
- 2017: 75%
- 2018: 78%
- 2019: 81%
- 2020: 76%
- 2021: 76% (76.4%)
- 2022: 80.10%
Now that you know the matric performance by provinces, check also the overall performance in South Africa.
Matric 2022 / 2023 Pass Rate from Highest to Least
Here is the list of the Matric exam pass rates ranked from the highest to the least for 2025/2026 academic year (results released in January 2023):
- Free State – 88.50%
- Gauteng – 84.40%
- KwaZulu-Natal – 83.00%
- Western Cape – 81.40%
- North West – 79.80%
- Eastern Cape – 77.30%
- Mpumalanga – 76.80%
- Northern Cape – 74.20%
- Limpopo – 72.10%
Independent Examinations Board (IEB) Matric Exam Results
Here is the total number of candidates (both full- and part-time) that wrote the IEB Matric Exams every year from 2010:
| Year | Number of Candidates |
| 2010 | 8285 |
| 2011 | 8281 |
| 2012 | 8959 |
| 2013 | 10166 |
| 2014 | 10451 |
| 2015 | 12160 |
| 2016 | 11022 |
| 2017 | 12130 |
| 2018 | 12372 |
| 2019 | 12597 |
| 2020 | 13181 |
| 2021 | 13843 |
IEB Pass Performance rates
Here are the IEB Matric Exam Results pass rates over the years:
- 2010: 98.38%
- 2011: 98.15%
- 2012: 98.20%
- 2013: 98.56%
- 2014: 98.38%
- 2015: 98.30%
- 2016: 98.67%
- 2017: 98.76%
- 2018: 98.92%
- 2019: 98.82%
- 2020: 98.07%
- 2021: 98.39%
- 2022: 98.42%
Now that you have gone through the all-round performance, you should also check your results against the performance you have read.
How to check Matric Exam Results
There are various ways to check your result, some of them are: From
- your High School
- The exam venue where you wrote your exams
- The Department of Basic Education (DBE) or Independent Examinations Board (IEB) websites
You can check your results through SMS, USSD or even Newspapers, this will be a nice time to tell you about the article where we list the various ways to check your result — read that article.
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