Demographics of South Africa

According to the 2022 census, the population of South Africa is about 62 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions, with a majority being Black Africans. The African National Census of 2022 was the most recent census held; the next will be in 2032.
In 2011, Statistics South Africa counted 2.1 million foreigners in total. Reports suggest that is an underestimation. The real figure may be as high as five million, including some three million Zimbabweans.

History

The earliest creatures that can be identified as human ancestors in South Africa are australopithecines. The first evidence of this was a child's skull found in the Taung quarry site. This was in the modern day North-West province. More fossils australopithecines were found in limestone caves Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, and Kromdaai.

Population

Earlier Censuses, 1904 to 2011

1904 Census

South African population figures for the 1904 Census.

	Cape Colony	Natal	Transvaal	Orange River Colony	Total	Percent
Black	1,424,787	904,041	937,127	225,101	3,491,056
White	579,741	97,109	297,277	142,690	1,116,805
Coloured	395,034	6,686	24,226	19,282	445,228
Indian	10,242	100,918	11,321	253	122,734
Total	2,409,804	1,108,754	1,269,951	387,315	5,175,823
% of S. Africa

1960 Census

Sources: Statesman's Year-Book 1967–1968; Europa Year Book 1969

	Cape of Good Hope	Natal	Transvaal	Orange Free State	Total	Percent
Black	3,011,080	2,199,920	4,633,378	1,083,886	10,928,264
White	1,003,207	340,235	1,468,305	276,745	3,088,492
Coloured	1,330,089	45,253	108,007	25,909	1,509,258
Indian	18,477	394,854	63,787	7	477,125
Total	5,362,853	2,980,262	6,273,477	1,386,547	16,003,139
% of S. Africa

1904–85 national census numbers

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.

1996 Census

Source: The People of South Africa: Population Census, 1996

	Black	White	Coloured	Indian/ Asian	Other	Total	% of S.A.
Northern Cape	278,633	111,844	435,368	2,268	12,208	840,321
Western Cape	826,691	821,551	2,146,109	40,376	122,148	3,956,875
Eastern Cape	5,448,495	330,294	468,532	19,356	35,849	6,302,525
KwaZulu-Natal	6,880,652	558,182	117,951	790,813	69,423	8,417,021
Mpumalanga	2,497,834	253,392	20,283	13,083	16,120	2,800,711
Free State	2,223,940	316,459	79,038	2,805	11,262	2,633,504
Gauteng	5,147,444	1,702,343	278,692	161,289	58,654	7,348,423
Northern Province	4,765,255	117,878	7,821	5,510	32,904	4,929,368
North West	3,058,686	222,755	46,652	10,097	16,635	3,354,825
South Africa Total	31,127,631	4,434,697	3,600,446	1,045,596	375,204	40,583,573
Percent
Population Group →	Black	White	Coloured	Asian	Other	Total	% of RSA

2001 Census

Source: Statistics South Africa: Census 2001

	Eastern Cape	Free State	Gauteng	KwaZulu-Natal	Limpopo	Mpumalanga	Northern Cape	North West	Western Cape	Total	Percent
Black	5,635,079	2,381,073	6,522,792	8,002,407	5,128,616	2,886,345	293,976	3,358,450	1,207,429	35,416,166
White	304,506	238,791	1,758,398	483,448	126,276	203,244	102,042	244,035	832,901	4,293,640
Coloured	478,807	83,193	337,974	141,887	10,163	22,158	424,389	56,959	2,438,976	3,994,505
Indian	18,372	3,719	218,015	798,275	8,587	11,244	2,320	9,906	45,030	1,115,467
Total	6,436,763	2,706,775	8,837,178	9,426,017	5,273,642	3,122,990	822,727	3,669,349	4,524,335	44,819,778
% of S.A.

2011 Census

Source: Census 2011: Census in Brief

	Eastern Cape	Free State	Gauteng	KwaZulu-Natal	Limpopo	Mpumalanga	Northern Cape	North West	Western Cape	Total	Percent
Black	5,660,230	2,405,533	9,493,684	8,912,921	5,224,754	3,662,219	576,986	3,152,063	1,912,547	41,000,938
Coloured	541,850	83,844	423,594	141,376	14,415	36,611	461,899	71,409	2,840,404	4,615,401
White	310,450	239,026	1,913,884	428,842	139,359	303,595	81,246	255,385	915,053	4,586,838
Indian/Asian	27,929	10,398	356,574	756,991	17,881	27,917	7,827	20,652	60,761	1,286,930
Other	21,595	6,790	84,527	27,170	8,459	9,597	17,903	10,444	93,969	280,454
Total	6,562,053	2,745,590	12,272,263	10,267,300	5,404,868	4,039,939	1,145,861	3,509,953	5,822,734	51,770,560
% of S.A.

2022 Census

Source: Census 2022 Statistical Release

	Eastern Cape	Free State	Gauteng	KwaZulu-Natal	Limpopo	Mpumalanga	Northern Cape	North West	Western Cape	Total	Percent
Black	6,189,075	2,630,556	12,763,312	10,535,830	6,341,601	4,898,063	679,383	3,562,524	2,884,511	50,486,856
Coloured	547,741	78,141	443,857	183,019	18,409	32,100	563,605	60,720	3,124,757	5,052,349
White	403,061	235,915	1,509,800	513,377	167,524	185,731	99,150	171,887	1,217,807	4,504,252
Indian	37,568	12,978	329,736	1,157,542	35,958	25,882	10,824	2,654	84,363	1,697,506
Other	48,339	4,274	35,890	27,442	7,172	440	2,667	5,894	115,235	247,353
Total	7,225,784	2,961,864	15,084,595	12,417,210	6,570,664	5,142,216	1,355,629	3,803,679	7,426,673	61,988,314
% of S.A.

Note: The 2022 South African census has been criticised for its inaccuracies, such as the overestimation of the Indian and White population.

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 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. All population estimates are rounded to the nearest thousand.

Vital statistics

The following statistics are obtained from the mid-year population estimates published by Statistics South Africa:

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Natural change	Total fertility rates
2002	46,572,861	987,121	621,727	365,394	21.2	13.3	7.8	2.55
2003	47,005,180	975,304	639,556	335,748	20.7	13.6	7.1	2.48
2004	47,504,691	1,049,185	660,576	388,609	22.1	13.9	8.2	2.62
2005	48,060,577	1,113,332	683,422	429,910	23.2	14.2	8.9	2.74
2006	48,642,306	1,146,355	698,831	447,524	23.6	14.4	9.2	2.77
2007	49,264,665	1,170,206	690,859	479,347	23.8	14.0	9.7	2.77
2008	49,935,872	1,196,308	676,658	519,650	24.0	13.6	10.4	2.78
2009	50,653,813	1,197,835	644,046	553,789	23.6	12.7	10.9	2.74
2010	51,405,009	1,182,577	608,869	573,708	23.0	11.8	11.2	2.65
2011	52,217,038	1,194,399	572,658	621,741	22.9	11.0	11.9	2.64
2012	53,068,330	1,199,305	547,027	652,278	22.6	10.3	12.3	2.61
2013	53,940,104	1,195,484	529,404	666,080	22.2	9.8	12.3	2.56
2014	54,829,783	1,192,619	515,742	676,877	21.8	9.4	12.3	2.52
2015	55,710,675	1,177,128	513,781	663,347	21.1	9.2	11.9	2.45
2016	56,543,365	1,129,875	519,496	610,379	20.0	9.2	10.8	2.33
2017	57,366,323	1,119,165	523,259	595,906	19.5	9.1	10.4	2.28
2018	58,233,213	1,155,430	520,337	635,093	19.8	8.9	10.9	2.34
2019	59,131,136	1,184,110	522,734	661,376	20.0	8.8	11.2	2.38
2020	60,002,639	1,215,381	528,117	687,264	20.3	8.8	11.5	2.42
2021	60,641,542	1,223,452	675,121	548,331	20.2	11.1	9.0	2.42
2022	61,356,168	1,223,535	631,623	591,912	19.9	10.3	9.6	2.42
2023	62,180,391	1,222,387	540,620	681,767	19.7	8.7	11.0	2.42
2024	63,015,904	1,224,801	547,360	677,441	19.4	8.7	10.8	2.41
Mid-Year 2025	63,100,945	1,117,840	557,164	560,676				2.21

Total fertility rates by province

Province

2021–2026

Limpopo

United Nations Population Estimates

The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates.

Age and sex distribution

Age group	Male	Female percent	Female	Total	Percent of RSA
0–14	7,969,880	49.6%	7,842,388	15,812,268	31.3%
15–64	15,538,934	51.8%	16,696,600	32,235,534	63.7%
65+	1,006,222	51.8%	1,532,733	2,538,955	5.0%
All ages	24,515,036	51.5%	26,071,721	50,586,757	100%

Age group	Male	Female percent	Female	Total	Percent of RSA
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

Population by Sex and Age Group :

Age group	Male	Female percent	Female	Total	Percent of RSA
0–14	8 193 703	49.88%	8 153 039	16 346 742	26.35%
15–64	20 340 801	51.19%	21 332 902	41 673 703	67.19%
65+	1 544 253	61.46%	2 462 805	4 007 058	6.46%
All ages	30 078 757	51.51%	31 948 746	62 027 503	100%

Age group	Male	Female percent	Female	Total	Percent of RSA
under 5	2 918 292	50.0%	2 915 222	5 833 515	9.40%
5–9	2 561 963	49.9%	2 547 141	5 109 104	8.24%
10–14	2 713 448	49.8%	2 690 676	5 404 124	8.71%
15–19	2 504 677	49.7%	2 470 633	4 975 309	8.02%
20–24	2 670 986	49.7%	2 638 753	5 309 738	8.56%
25–29	2 825 292	50.7%	2 907 947	5 733 239	9.24%
30–34	2 776 212	50.4%	2 816 611	5 592 823	9.02%
35–39	2 596 891	50.3%	2 625 711	5 222 603	8.42%
40–44	2 089 077	50.1%	2 096 144	4 185 220	6.75%
45–49	1 586 698	51.8%	1 706 813	3 293 511	5.31%
50–54	1 277 910	53.9%	1 491 229	2 769 139	4.46%
55–59	1 100 778	55.9%	1 395 674	2 496 452	4.02%
60–64	912 280	56.5%	1 183 387	2 095 667	3.38%
65–69	672 433	58.0%	927 238	1 599 671	2.58%
70–74	419 393	59.9%	626 614	1 046 006	1.69%
75–79	238 713	63.4%	413 321	652 033	1.05%
80–84	132 074	66.5%	262 740	394 814	0.64%
85-plus	81 640	74.0%	232 892	314 532	0.51%
TOTAL	30 078 757	51.5%	31 948 746	62 027 503	100%

Age and race distribution

Age distribution within each racial group

By generation

Racial composition of each age group in 2015

By five-year cohorts

Racial composition of each age group in 2020 (estimates)

Source:

Demographic and Health Surveys

Fertility rate and CBR :
Fertility rate by ethnic group.

Year	Total	Black African	White	Coloured	Indian/Asian
1998	2.9	3.1	1.9	2.5
2016	2.6	2.7	1.5	2.5	1.7

Life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth from 1950 to 2020 :

Period	Life expectancy
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
2015–2020	63.7
2020–2025	66.5

Ethnic groups

Statistics South Africa asks people to describe themselves in the census in terms of five racial population groups. The 2011 census figures for these groups were African at 80.2%, White at 8.4%, Coloured at 8.8%, Indian/Asian at 2.5%, and Other/Unspecified at 0.5%.
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, 8.9% in 2011 and 7.65% in 2022. Coloured South Africans replaced Whites as the largest minority group around 2010.

Languages

South Africa has twelve official languages: isiZulu 24.4%, isiXhosa 16.3%, Afrikaans 10.6%, English 8.7%, Sepedi 10.0%, Setswana 8.3%, Sesotho 7.8%, Xitsonga 4.7%, siSwati 2.8%, Tshivenda 2.5%, isiNdebele 1.7% and South African Sign Language.
In this regard, it is third only to Bolivia and [Official Languages of South Africa|languages of India|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, Xhosa, and Afrikaans.
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%
The country also recognises several unofficial languages, including Sekholokoe, Fanagalo, Khwe, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi and San. 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, German, Serbian and Greek, while some Indians and other Asians in South Africa speak South Asian languages, such as Bhojpuri, Tamil, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Telugu. Although many South Africans are of Huguenot 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.

By ethnicity

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.
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%.

Religion

According to the 2022 national census, Christians accounted for 85.3% of the population. This includes Protestant, Zionist Christian, Pentecostal/Charismatic, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Dutch Reformed, Anglican ; 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%.
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.
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.
Other minority religions in South Africa are Sikhism, Jainism, Baháʼí Faith and Judaism.

By ethnicity

86.0% of black residents are Christian, 3.0% have no religion, 0.3% are Muslim, 0.0% are Jewish, 0.0% are Hindu, 9.5% Traditional African and 1.2% have other or undetermined beliefs.
90.1% of white residents are Christian, 4.9% have no religion, 0.3% are Muslim, 0.7% are Jewish, and 0.1% are Hindu. 3.9% have other or undetermined beliefs.

Other demographic statistics

The following demographics are from the CIA World Factbook unless otherwise indicated.

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Major infectious diseases

note: widespread ongoing transmission of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus 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

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

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. Groups of refugees and asylum seekers numbering over 10,000 included people from Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia. These populations mainly lived in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth. 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. Other institutions, like the police and Médecins Sans Frontières place estimate the figure at 4 million.

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.

Year	African	Asian	White
1985-2000	632 633	36 908	-202 868
2001-2006	565 916	25 310	-99 574
2006-2011	815 780	43 222	-106 787
2011-2016	972 995	54 697	-111 346
2016-2021	894 365	49 584	-90 956

Urbanisation

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