Numbeo’s 2016 Traffic Index shows that South Africa is the 5th most traffic congested country in the world.
Egypt was ranked as the most congested country in the world, followed by Iran, Russia and Turkey. South Africa was ranked 5th.
The Traffic Index is a composite index of time consumed in traffic due to job commute (going one way), estimation of time consumption dissatisfaction (after 25 minutes commuting), CO2 consumption estimation in traffic and overall inefficiencies in the traffic system.
On average, South Africans spend 43 extra minutes in traffic due to traffic (going one way) – while this is not the highest rate globally (Egyptians spend over 50 minutes more), the country’s CO2 emission score pulls it up higher on the list to be 5th.
South Africa was ranked above the Philippines, Thailand, India, Brazil and Indonesia, which round off the top 10.
The most traffic congested countries in the world
| # | Country | Additional mins spent in traffic (one way) | Total Traffic Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Egypt | 51 | 249.5 |
| 2 | Iran | 48 | 221.6 |
| 3 | Russia | 49 | 209.1 |
| 4 | Turkey | 48 | 208.1 |
| 5 | South Africa | 43 | 208.0 |
| 6 | Philippines | 46 | 207.8 |
| 7 | Thailand | 43 | 206.0 |
| 8 | India | 46 | 201.1 |
| 9 | Brazil | 46 | 197.9 |
| 10 | Indonesia | 41 | 182.9 |
Looking at the most congested cities in the world, there have been some significant changes since 2015’s ranking.
Read: SA cities with the worst traffic jams in 2015
Cape Town, which was previously ranked as the most congested city in South Africa, has been overtaken by Johannesburg and Pretoria – the latter of which is the country’s new number 1.
Pretoria is ranked as the 15th most congested city in the world, with added traffic time sitting at 48 minutes one way. Johannesburg is ranked 25th overall, with 45 additional minutes of travel time, and Cape Town follows ranked 30th, with 43 minutes.
Durban ranks further down at 56th, with 39 additional minutes of traffic time.
South Africa’s most traffic congested cities
| # (global) | City | Additional mins spent in traffic (one way) | Total Traffic Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (15) | Pretoria | 48 | 245.3 |
| 2 (25) | Johannesburg | 45 | 220.3 |
| 3 (30) | Cape Town | 43 | 200.5 |
| 4 (56) | Durban | 39 | 169.8 |
Numbeo’s index relies on user inputs as well as manually collected information from a number of authoritative sources, with algorithms in place to discard statistically inaccurate data.
The group claims to have collected millions datapoints since it was established, and is often used as a comparative data source for media groups such as Forbes, Business Insider, Time, The Economist and the NYT.
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