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Happiness during each president's tenure

Every president since 1991, ranked by how the happiness changed from their first day in office. Politare shows what happened during a tenure; it does not claim the office-holder caused it.

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#PresidentIn officeTotalPer yearChart
1 Cyril Ramaphosa 15 Feb 2018 – now +0.29 steps 2017 → 2024+0.04 steps/yr

Sorted by total, highest first. Every row is indexed to the last count complete before the first day in office ("from" marks a start that had to move because that count had no data, or because the period cut it); Levels are per cent changes, rates are differences in steps; "per year" compounds levels and divides rates. Tenures with under 12 months, or under three observations, are left out. steps, 0 to 10 on the life ladder · World Happiness Report, Figure 2.1 data (Gallup World Poll): life evaluation, the national average answer to Gallup's question of where on a ladder from 0 (the worst possible life) to 10 (the best) people stand today; each point the average of three years of surveys, dated at the middle one, with the WHR's 95 % interval from 2019; 2013 is not published · South Africa data · as of Oct 2026.

Sources: Statistics South Africa (Quarterly Labour Force Survey, consumer price index, mid-year population estimates, Quarterly Employment Statistics; GDP and the national CPI via the IMF), South African Reserve Bank, BIS, World Bank, Natural Earth, World Bank (Worldwide Governance Indicators), V-Dem Institute, Transparency International, World Happiness Report, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons. Every chart is indexed to the office-holder's first day. Correlation is not credit. CreditsPrivacy