Demographics of South Africa

Demographics of South Africa
Population of South Africa, 1961–2008
Population	57,725,600 (July 2018 estimate)[1]
Density	45.78/km2
Growth rate	1.55%[1]
Birth rate	20.8 births/1,000 population (2018 est.)
Death rate	9.1 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.)
Life expectancy	64 years (2018 est.)
• male	61 years (2018 est.)
• female	67 years (2018 est.)
Fertility rate	2.4 children born/woman (2013 est.)
Infant mortality rate	36.4 deaths/1,000 (2018 est.)
Age structure
0–14 years	28.9% (male 7,093,328/female 7,061,579)
15–64 years	65.8% (male 16,275,424/female 15,984,181)
65 and over	5.4% (male 1,075,117/female 1,562,860) (2010 est.)
Sex ratio
Total	0.99 male(s)/female (2010 est.)
At birth	1.02 male(s)/female
Under 15	1 male(s)/female
15–64 years	1.02 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.68 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	South African
Language
Official	See Languages of South Africa

The demographics of South Africa encompasses about 57.7 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions.^[1] The last census was held in 2011 and the next will be in 2021.^[2]

In 2011, Statistics South Africa counted 2.1 million foreigners in total.^[3] However, numerous reports suggest that that is a vast underestimation. The real figure may in fact be as high as five million,^[4] including some three million Zimbabweans.^[5]

Population

Population density in South Africa (darker color = higher density)

Life expectancy

Life expectancy from 1950 to 2015 (UN World Population Prospects)^[18]:

Period	Life expectancy (years)
1950–1955	48.5
1955–1960	51.3
1960–1965	53.0
1965–1970	54.8
1970–1975	56.7
1975–1980	57.3
1980–1985	58.4
1985–1990	61.0
1990–1995	62.3
1995–2000	59.2
2000–2005	53.8
2005–2010	53.1
2010–2015	59.5

Vital statistics

Registration of vital events in South Africa has improved considerably during the past decade, but still not considered to be complete for black South Africans. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.^[14] (Natural increase or decrease over a time period is the difference between that period's live births and deaths, before accounting for inward or outward migration.)

United Nations estimates, 2010

Age and sex distribution

South African National Census of 2011

Population pyramid, 2011

Age group	Male	Female percent	Female	Total	percent of S.A.
under 5	2,867,585	49.6%	2,817,867	5,685,452	11.0%
5–9	2,425,181	49.7%	2,394,570	4,819,751	9.3%
10–14	2,344,275	49.0%	2,250,611	4,594,886	8.9%
15–19	2,498,572	50.1%	2,504,905	5,003,477	9.7%
20–24	2,694,646	49.9%	2,679,896	5,374,542	10.4%
25–29	2,542,682	49.7%	2,516,635	5,059,317	9.8%
30–34	2,036,206	49.5%	1,992,804	4,029,010	7.8%
35–39	1,709,347	50.7%	1,758,420	3,467,767	6.7%
40–44	1,402,328	52.4%	1,546,291	2,948,619	5.7%
45–49	1,195,740	54.4%	1,424,543	2,620,283	5.1%
50–54	1,011,349	54.4%	1,206,940	2,218,289	4.3%
55–59	811,950	54.8%	985,458	1,797,408	3.5%
60–64	612,364	55.8%	773,404	1,385,768	2.7%
65–69	401,548	58.1%	556,256	957,804	1.9%
70–74	293,498	60.8%	454,832	748,330	1.4%
75–79	165,283	65.7%	315,984	481,267	0.9%
80–84	100,694	68.8%	222,222	322,916	0.6%
85-plus	75,543	70.5%	180,130	255,673	0.5%
TOTAL	25,188,791	51.3%	26,581,769	51,770,560	100%

Number of children 0–14	Number of women 15–49	Proportion	Fertility Rate
15,812,264	13,866,489	1.14	2.35

Age group	Population	Male	Female	Percent
0–14	15,812,268	7,969,880	7,842,388	31.26
15–64	32,235,534	15,538,934	16,696,600	63.72
65+	2,538,955	1,006,222	1,532,733	5.02

Ethnic groups

Annual per capita personal income by race group in South Africa relative to white levels.

Dominant population groups in South Africa.

  Black African

  Coloured

  Indian or other Asian

  White

  None dominant

Statistics South Africa asks people to describe themselves in the census in terms of five racial population groups.^[19] The 2011 census figures for these groups were Black African at 80.2%, White at 8.4%, Coloured at 8.8%, Indian /Asian at 2.5%, and Other/Unspecified at 0.5%.^[20]

The white percentage of the population has sharply declined. The first census in South Africa in 1911 showed that whites made up 22% of the population. This declined to 16% in 1980,^[21] and 8.9% in 2011.^[22]:21

Languages

South Africa has eleven official languages:^[23] IsiZulu^[20] 22.7%, IsiXhosa^[20] 16%, Afrikaans^[20] 13.5%, the English language ^[20] 9.6%, Sepedi ^[20] 9.1%, Setswana^[20] 8%, Sesotho^[20] 7.6%, Xitsonga^[20] 4.5%, siSwati^[20] 2.5%, Tshivenda^[20] 2.4% and isiNdebele^[20] 2.1%.

In this regard it is third only to Bolivia and India in number. While all the languages are formally equal, some languages are spoken more than others. According to the 2011 census, the three most spoken first languages are Zulu (22.7%), Xhosa (16.0%), and Afrikaans (13.5%).^[22]:23–25 Despite the fact that English is recognised as the language of commerce and science, it ranked fourth, and was spoken by only 9.6% of South Africans as a first language in 2011.^[22]:23–25

The country also recognises several unofficial languages, including Fanagalo, Khoe, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi, San and South African Sign Language.^[24] These unofficial languages may be used in certain official uses in limited areas where it has been determined that these languages are prevalent. Nevertheless, their populations are not such that they require nationwide recognition.

Many of the "unofficial languages" of the San and Khoikhoi people contain regional dialects stretching northwards into Namibia and Botswana, and elsewhere. These people, who are a physically distinct population from other Africans, have their own cultural identity based on their hunter-gatherer societies. They have been marginalised to a great extent, and many of their languages are in danger of becoming extinct.

Many white South Africans also speak other European languages, such as Portuguese (also spoken by black Angolans and Mozambicans), German, and Greek, while some Indians and other Asians in South Africa speak South Asian languages, such as Tamil, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Telugu. Although many South Africans are of Huguenot (French) origin, South African French is spoken by fewer than 10,000 individuals country-wide. Congolese French is also spoken in South Africa by migrants.

The primary sign language of Deaf South Africans is South African Sign Language. Other sign languages among indigenous peoples are also used.

Religion

According to the 2001 national census, Christians accounted for 79.7% of the population. This includes Protestant (36.6%), Zionist Christian (11.1%), Pentecostal/Charismatic (8.2%), Roman Catholic (7.1%), Methodist (6.8%), Dutch Reformed (6.7%), Anglican (3.8%); members of other Christian churches accounted for another 36% of the population. Muslims accounted for 1.5% of the population, Other 2.3%, and 1.4% were Unspecified and None 15.1%.^[20]

African Indigenous Churches made up the largest of the Christian groups. Some believe that many people claiming no affiliation with any organised religion adhered to traditional indigenous religions. Many people have syncretic religious practices combining Christian and indigenous influences.^[26]

Muslims are largely found among the Coloured and Indian ethnic groups. They have been joined by black or white South African converts as well as immigrants from other parts of Africa.^[27] South African Muslims claim that their faith is the fastest-growing religion of conversion in the country, with the number of black Muslims growing sixfold, from 12 000 in 1991 to 74 700 in 2004^[27][28]

The Hindu population has its roots in the British colonial period, but later waves of immigration from India have also contributed to it. Most Hindus are of South Asian origin, but there are many who come from mixed racial stock. Some are converts due to the efforts of Hindu missionaries such as ISKCON.

Other minority religions in South Africa are Sikhism, Jainism and Bahá'í Faith.^[29]

Immigration

South Africa hosts a sizeable refugee and asylum seeker population. According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, this population numbered approximately 144,700 in 2007.^[30] Groups of refugees and asylum seekers numbering over 10,000 included people from Zimbabwe (48,400), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (24,800), and Somalia (12,900).^[30] These populations mainly lived in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth.^[30] Many refugees have now also started to work and live in rural areas in provinces such as Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.

Statistics SA assumes in some of their calculations that there are fewer than 2 million immigrants in South Africa.^[31] Other institutions, like the police and Médecins Sans Frontières place estimate the figure at 4 million.^{[32][33][34][35][36]}

Urbanization

"Urban areas contain about two-thirds of the population; many of these consist of huge informal or squatter settlements."^[38]

Largest municipalities

See also: Metropolitan municipality (South Africa)

Largest cities or towns in South Africa 2016 Community Survey[39]
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
City of Johannesburg City of Cape Town	1	City of Johannesburg	Gauteng	4,949,347	EThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Ekurhuleni
	2	City of Cape Town	Western Cape	4,004,793
	3	EThekwini Metropolitan Municipality	KwaZulu-Natal	3,661,911
	4	Ekurhuleni	Gauteng	3,379,104
	5	City of Tshwane	Gauteng	3,275,152
	6	Nelson Mandela Bay	Eastern Cape	1,263,051
	7	Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality	Eastern Cape	810,528
	8	Mangaung	Free State	759,693
	9	Emfuleni	Gauteng	733,445
	10	Polokwane Local Municipality	Limpopo	702,190

Graphs and maps

• 
  Population pyramid by population group, 2011
• 
  Black population
• 
  White population
• 
  Coloured population

See also

• Statistics South Africa
• South African National Census of 2001
• South African National Census of 2011
• Afrikaans speaking population in South Africa
• Jewish population of South Africa
• Ethnic groups in South Africa by municipality

References

Further reading

• Alexander, Mary (30 June 2006). "Black, white – or South African?". SAinfo. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
• "A Nation in the Making: A Discussion Document on Macro-Social Trends in South Africa" (PDF). Government of South Africa. 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Demographics of South Africa.

• Sunday Standard article on Zimbabwe Refugee Crisis
• Contains information on the South African middle class
• Middle Class in South Africa-Significance, role and impact