In 2011, Statistics South Africa counted 2.1 million foreigners in total.[5] Reports[specify] suggest that is an underestimation. The real figure may be as high as five million,[6] including some three million Zimbabweans.[7]
History
Historical population of South Africa
Population
Earlier Censuses, 1904 to 2011
1904 Census
South African population figures for the 1904 Census.[8]
Bantustan demographics were removed from South African census data during Apartheid and for this reason official figures on the national population of the country during that period will be inaccurate.[11]
1996 Census
Source: The People of South Africa: Population Census, 1996[12]
2001 Census
Source: Statistics South Africa: Census 2001[13]
2011 Census
Source: Census 2011: Census in Brief[14]
2022 Census
Source: Census 2022 Statistical Release[15]
Historical and projected population for the years 1 to 2022
UN Age and population estimates: 1950 to 2030
According to the 2019 revision of the United Nations Secretariat's World Population Prospects, South Africa's total population was 55,386,000 in 2015, compared to only 13,628,000 in 1950. In 2015, 29.3% of the people were children under the age of 15, 65.7% were between 15 and 64 years of age, and 5.0% were 65 or older.[22] All population estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand.
The following statistics are obtained from the mid-year population estimates published by Statistics South Africa:[25]
Population estimates for South Africa 2002-2020
Mid-year population estimates for South Africa by province, 2020
United Nations estimates, 2019
The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.[22] (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.)
Age and sex distribution
Population pyramid, 2011
Age and race distribution
Age distribution within each racial group
By generation
Racial composition of each age group in 2015 (estimates)
By five-year cohorts
Racial composition of each age group in 2020 (estimates)
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,[32] 8.9% in 2011 and 7.65% in 2022.[33]: 21 Coloured South Africans replaced Whites as the largest minority group around 2010.
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 2022 census, the three most spoken languages in the household are Zulu (24.4%), Xhosa (16.3%), and Afrikaans (10.6%).[1]
Between 1996 and 2022, the proportion of Afrikaans speakers declined from 14.5% to 10.6% and English held steady at 8.7%, whle isiZulu grew from 22.8% to 24.4%, and Xhosa declined from 17.9% to 16.3%[36]
The country also recognises several unofficial languages, including Sekholokoe, Fanagalo, Khwe, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi and San.[37] 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.
In 2011, the first language was Zulu for 28.1% of Black South African residents, Xhosa for 19.8%, Sepedi for 11.2%, Tswana for 9.7%, Sesotho for 9.3%, Tsonga for 5.5%, siSwati for 3.1%, Venda for 2.9%, English for 2.8%, Southern Ndebele for 2.6%, Afrikaans for 1.5%, while 3.4% had another first language.[38]
Among whites, Afrikaans was the first language for 59.1% of the population, compared to 35.0% for English. Other languages accounted for the remaining 5.9%.[38]
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.[40] 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.[40][41]
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 ISKCON.
87.9% of Black residents are Christian, 9.5% have no religion, 0.2% are Muslim, 0.1% are Jewish, 1.22% are Hindu and 2.3% have other or undetermined beliefs.
71.8% of White residents are Christian, 23.8% have no religion, 0.2% are Muslim, 1.4% are Jewish, and 0.0% are Hindu. 2.7% have other or undetermined beliefs.
Other demographic statistics
Demographics development according to the United Nations
Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2022.[43]
One birth every 27 seconds
One death every 56 seconds
One net migrant every 4 minutes
Net gain of one person every 44 seconds
The following demographics are from the CIA World Factbook[44] unless otherwise indicated.
note: widespread ongoing transmission of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is occurring throughout South Africa; as of 6 June 2022, South Africa has reported a total of 3,968,205 cases of COVID-19 or 6,690.7 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with a total of 101,317 cumulative deaths or a rate of 170.83 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population; as of 6 June 2022, 36.33% of the population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine
Ethnic groups
Black African 80.9%, Colored 8.8%, White 7.8%, Indian/Asian 2.6% (2021 est.)
note: Colored is a term used in South Africa, including on the national census, for persons of mixed race ancestry who developed a distinct cultural identity over several hundred years
Languages
Map showing the dominant languages in South Africa
Statistics SA assumes in some of their calculations that there are fewer than 2 million immigrants in South Africa.[46] Other institutions, like the police and Médecins Sans Frontières place estimate the figure at 4 million.[47][48][49][50]
Immigration figures
Main countries of immigration in South Africa according to the 2011 Census and 2022 Census:
Immigration assumptions by Statistics South Africa to South Africa based on race. Negative numbers represent net migration from South Africa to other countries.[52]
Immigration to SA by Race (Negative values indicate net migration from SA elsewhere)
Urbanization
"Urban areas contain about two-thirds of the population; many of these consist of huge informal or squatter settlements."[53]
^ a b c d"Statistics South Africa - Census Dissemination". census.statssa.gov.za. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
^ a b c d e f g h"Mid-year population estimates 2022" (PDF). stats sa. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
^ a b c d"Census 2022: Statistical Release" (PDF). statssa.gov.za. 10 October 2023. p. 6. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
^"Census 2021 New Methodologies Test". Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). 20 July 2018. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018.
^"Table 3.5, Statistical release (Revised) P0301.4, Census 2011" (PDF). Statssa.gov.za. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
^"Nowhere left to go". The Economist. 20 May 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
^"Escape From Mugabe: Zimbabwe's Exodus". Archived from the original on 24 January 2016.
^ a bSmuts I: The Sanguine Years 1870–1919, W.K. Hancock, Cambridge University Press, 1962, pg 219
^The Statesman's Year-Book, 1967–1968 (104th annual edition), edited by S.H. Steinberg, Macmillan, London; St. Martin's Press, New York, 1967, pages 1405–1424
^The Europa Year Book 1969, Volume II: Africa, The Americas, Asia, Australasia, Europa Publications, London, 1969, page 1286
^Ogura, Mitsuo (1996). "Urbanization and Apartheid in South Africa: Influx Controls and Their Abolition". The Developing Economies. 34 (4): 402–423. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1049.1996.tb01178.x. ISSN 1746-1049. PMID 12292280.
^Statistics South Africa (1999). "The People of South Africa: Population Census, 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 19 April 2020.
^Statistics South Africa (2003). "Statistics South Africa: Census 2001" (PDF). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
^Statistics South Africa (2012). "Census 2011: Census in Brief" (PDF). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
^The Statesman's Year-Book 1977–1978 (ed. John Paxton), St. Martin's Press, New York (& Macmillan, London), 1977, page 1296
^"City of Cape Town / Isixeko Sasekapa, Stad Kaapstad: Metropolitan Municipality & Main Places – Statistics & Maps on City Population". Citypopulation.de. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
^"South Africa: Provinces and Major Urban Areas - Population Statistics in Maps and Charts". Citypopulation.de. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
^Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (2015). "Total Population - Both Sexes (XLS, 3.74 MB) - 2015 revision". United Nations. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
^"Mid-year population estimates" (PDF). Statistics South Africa. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
^ a b"World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". population.un.org. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
^"World Population Prospects 2019: Data Booklet" (PDF). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Dynamics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
^"South Africa Population 2023 (Live)". worldpopulationreview.com. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
^"Archived publications for: P0302". www.statssa.gov.za. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
^"The DHS Program - Quality information to plan, monitor and improve population, health, and nutrition programs". Dhsprogram.com. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
^"World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2017.
^"Life Expectancy at Exact Age x (ex) - Both Sexes (XLSX, 172.2 MB)". docs.google.com. Retrieved 2 April 2023. taken from "World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations". population.un.org. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
^Lehohla, Pali (5 May 2005). "Debate over race and censuses not peculiar to SA". Business Report. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2013. Others pointed out that the repeal of the Population Registration Act in 1991 removed any legal basis for specifying 'race'. The Identification Act of 1997 makes no mention of race. On the other hand, the Employment Equity Act speaks of 'designated groups' being 'black people, women and people with disabilities'. The Act defines 'black' as referring to 'Africans, coloureds and Indians'. Apartheid and the racial identification which underpinned it explicitly linked race with differential access to resources and power. If the post-apartheid order was committed to remedying this, race would have to be included in surveys and censuses, so that progress in eradicating the consequences of apartheid could be measured and monitored. This was the reasoning that led to a 'self-identifying' question about 'race' or 'population group' in both the 1996 and 2001 population censuses, and in Statistics SA's household survey programme.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l"Africa :: SOUTH AFRICA". CIA The World Factbook. 2 November 2022.
^Study Commission on U.S. Policy toward Southern Africa (U.S.) (1981). South Africa: time running out : the report of the Study Commission on U.S. Policy Toward Southern Africa. University of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 0-520-04547-5.
^Census 2011: Census in brief (PDF). Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. 2012. ISBN 9780621413885.
^"The languages of South Africa". Media Club South Africa. Brand South Africa. December 2011. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
^ a b"Community profiles > Census 2011". Statistics South Africa Superweb. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
^"2022 South African Census" (PDF).
^ a b"In South Africa, many blacks convert to Islam". Christian Science Monitor. 10 January 2002. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
^"Muslims say their faith growing fast in Africa". Religionnewsblog.com. 15 November 2004. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
^"South Africa – Section I. Religious Demography". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 15 July 2006.
^"South Africa Population 2022", World Population Review, 2022
^"The World FactBook - South Africa", The World Factbook, 2022 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ a b c"World Refugee Survey 2008". U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. 19 June 2008. Archived from the original on 5 October 2007.
^"P03022009_6". Statssa.gov.za. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
^"So where are Zimbabweans going?". 8 November 2005. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
^Slabbert, Antoinette (1 June 2009). "SA het baie meer mense as geraam" [SA population may be much larger than previously thought]. sake24.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
^"South African Department of Home Affairs". Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
^"STATISTICAL RELEASE; Census 2022" (PDF). Retrieved 10 January 2024.
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Further reading
Alexander, Mary (30 June 2006). "Black, white – or South African?". SAinfo. Archived from the original on 4 July 2006. 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.
Wikiquote has quotations related to South Africans.
Sunday Standard article on Zimbabwe Refugee Crisis
Contains information on the South African middle class
Middle Class in South Africa-Significance, role and impact