WTMG Intelligence
South Africa Relocation Market Intelligence
A data-driven view of South Africa's structural relocation market using migration, economic, destination-attractiveness and corridor indicators.
RMOS Score49.7225
Global RMOS Rank#105 of 171
Migration Momentum36.8
International Migrant Stock2,631,100
Migrant Share4.1%
MethodologyRMOS-GLOBAL-1.0
Data Coverage100.0%
This profile describes structural relocation-market conditions. It does not represent WTMG customer demand, leads, transactions or revenue.
RMOS-GLOBAL-1.0
South Africa's RMOS position
Authoritative RMOS49.7225
Global rank#105
Countries scored171
Top positionTop 61.4%
Migrant-stock rank#27 of 172
Migration-momentum rank#132 of 172
RMOS component breakdown
Weighted contributions reconcile to the stored authoritative RMOS score.
| Component | Normalized score | Weight | Weighted contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Migration Momentum | 36.8 | 25% | 9.2105 |
| Migrant Market Size | 84.8 | 20% | 16.9591 |
| Migrant Share | 42.9 | 15% | 6.4412 |
| GDP per Capita | 40.4 | 15% | 6.0674 |
| GDP Growth | 13.6 | 10% | 1.3559 |
| Destination Attractiveness | 59.4 | 10% | 5.9384 |
| Visa Accessibility | 75.0 | 5% | 3.7500 |
| Stored final RMOS | 49.7225 | ||
South Africa migration-market scale
Source years are shown separately because the underlying datasets update on different cycles.
MMS-1.0
South Africa Migration Momentum
These are changes in international migrant stock, not annual migration flows.
2024 migrant stock2,631,100
2020 migrant stock2,639,076
2015 migrant stock3,162,564
2020-2024 change-7,976 (-0.3%)
2015-2024 change-531,464 (-16.8%)
Largest migrant-stock origins into South Africa
2024 international migrant stock, not annual relocation flow.
| Rank | Origin | 2024 migrant stock | 2020 stock | 2015 stock | 2020-2024 change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Zimbabwe | 1,072,620 | 966,487 | 833,530 | +106,133 (+11.0%) |
| #2 | Mozambique | 412,058 | 413,226 | 403,208 | -1,168 (-0.3%) |
| #3 | Lesotho | 237,718 | 215,957 | 183,120 | +21,761 (+10.1%) |
| #4 | Malawi | 220,437 | 177,019 | 121,300 | +43,418 (+24.5%) |
| #5 | Ethiopia | 104,402 | 117,442 | 72,207 | -13,040 (-11.1%) |
| #6 | Namibia | 34,273 | 36,795 | 38,929 | -2,522 (-6.9%) |
| #7 | Bangladesh | 30,637 | 47,821 | 27,930 | -17,184 (-35.9%) |
| #8 | India | 27,674 | 32,302 | 34,185 | -4,628 (-14.3%) |
| #9 | Nigeria | 26,707 | 30,996 | 33,525 | -4,289 (-13.8%) |
| #10 | Zambia | 22,946 | 25,677 | 28,326 | -2,731 (-10.6%) |
Explore Global Migration Corridors with South Africa selected
Largest destinations for migrants from South Africa
2024 international migrant stock, not annual relocation flow.
| Rank | Destination | 2024 migrant stock | 2020 stock | 2015 stock | 2020-2024 change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Australia | 213,447 | 199,994 | 177,482 | +13,453 (+6.7%) |
| #2 | USA | 161,507 | 129,545 | 102,856 | +31,962 (+24.7%) |
| #3 | New Zealand | 101,970 | 82,625 | 62,541 | +19,345 (+23.4%) |
| #4 | Canada | 52,600 | 50,957 | 47,223 | +1,643 (+3.2%) |
| #5 | Netherlands | 31,024 | 20,331 | 13,669 | +10,693 (+52.6%) |
| #6 | Mozambique | 21,022 | 20,171 | 19,198 | +851 (+4.2%) |
| #7 | Zimbabwe | 20,346 | 19,731 | 19,013 | +615 (+3.1%) |
| #8 | Ireland | 18,857 | 13,073 | 8,088 | +5,784 (+44.2%) |
| #9 | Israel | 14,535 | 13,837 | 12,381 | +698 (+5.0%) |
| #10 | Portugal | 14,232 | 12,651 | 11,028 | +1,581 (+12.5%) |
Explore Global Migration Corridors with South Africa selected
WTLG input
WTLG Destination Attractiveness
59.4
Country median RAS used by RMOS, based on 3 covered WTLG cities.
WTMG provides market intelligence; WTLG provides destination intelligence.WTLG input
Visa Accessibility
75.0
Normalized RMOS component. Underlying median WTLG visa score: 75.0, based on 3 contributing cities.
South Africa against the global RMOS universe
A descriptive comparison with the median of currently scored countries.
| Measure | South Africa | Global median | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| RMOS | 49.7 | 55.8 | -6.0 |
| Migration Momentum | 36.8 | 60.1 | -23.3 |
| Migrant Market Size | 84.8 | 50.3 | +34.5 |
| Migrant Share | 42.9 | 50.0 | -7.1 |
| GDP per Capita | 40.4 | 51.1 | -10.7 |
| GDP Growth | 13.6 | 50.6 | -37.0 |
| Destination Attractiveness | 59.4 | 67.0 | -7.6 |
| Visa Accessibility | 75.0 | 60.0 | +15.0 |
Data years and limitations
- UN migrant stock and corridors: 2024; momentum compares 2024 with 2020 and 2015.
- World Bank GDP inputs use the actual observation years shown above.
- WTLG destination data reflects the current stored WTLG dataset and depends on covered WTLG cities.
- RMOS measures structural opportunity, not actual demand; migrant stock is not annual migration flow.
- Different datasets have different update cycles.
- This profile does not estimate provider revenue or demand for a specific professional service.