According to the 2022 census, the population of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

is about 62 million people of diverse origins, cultures,

languages Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing. Human language is ch ...

, and

religions Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, t ...

, with a majority being Black Africans. The

South African National Census of 2022 The South African National Census of 2022 is the 4th comprehensive census performed by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The census results were released on 10 October 2023 and recorded a total of 62 million people in the country. Key findi ...

was the most recent census held; the next will be in 2032. In 2011,

Statistics South Africa Statistics South Africa (officially the Department of Statistics South Africa, and often shortened to Stats SA) is the national statistical service of South Africa. The Department has the goal of producing timely, accurate and official statistics ...

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 Demographic features of the population of Zimbabwe include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Population The population of Zimbabwe ...

History

The earliest creatures that can be identified as human ancestors in South Africa are

australopithecines The australopithecines (), formally Australopithecina or Hominina, are generally any species in the related genera of ''Australopithecus'' and ''Paranthropus''. It may also include members of '' Kenyanthropus'', '' Ardipithecus'', and '' Praean ...

. The first evidence of this was a child's skull found in the

Taung Taung is a small town situated in the North West Province of South Africa. The name means ''place of the lion'' and was named after Tau, the King of the Barolong people. ''Tau'' is the Tswana word for lion. Taung skull fossil site In 1924, a sk ...

quarry site. This was in the modern day North-West province. More

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

australopithecines were found in limestone caves

Sterkfontein Sterkfontein (Afrikaans for ''Strong Spring'') is a set of limestone caves of special interest in paleoanthropology located in Gauteng province, about northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Muldersdrift area close to the town of K ...

Swartkrans Swartkrans or Swartkranz is a fossil-bearing cave designated as a National heritage sites (South Africa), South African National Heritage Site, located about from Johannesburg. It is located in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and is ...

, and Kromdaai.

Population

Earlier Censuses, 1904 to 2011

1904 Census

South African population figures for the 1904 Census.Smuts I: The Sanguine Years 1870–1919, W.K. Hancock, Cambridge University Press, 1962, pg 219

1960 Census

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

1904–85 national census numbers

Bantustan A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu peoples, Bantu homeland, a Black people, black homeland, a Khoisan, black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party (South Africa), National Party administration of the ...

demographics were removed from South African census data during

Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

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''

2001 Census

Source: ''Statistics South Africa: Census 2001''

2011 Census

Source: ''Census 2011: Census in Brief''

2022 Census

Source: ''Census 2022 Statistical Release''

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 The United Nations Secretariat is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), The secretariat is the UN's executive arm. The secretariat has an important role in setting the agenda for the deliberative and decision-making bodi ...

's ''

World Population Prospects Human population projections are attempts to extrapolate how human populations will change in the future. These projections are an important input to forecasts of the population's impact on this planet and humanity's future well-being. Models ...

'', 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.

UN population projections: 2019 to 2100

Vital statistics

The following statistics are obtained from the mid-year population estimates published by

Total fertility rates by province

United Nations Population Estimates

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

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)

Source:

Demographic and Health Surveys

Fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime, if they were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through their lifetime, and they were t ...

(TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and CBR (

Crude Birth Rate Birth rate, also known as natality, is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population for a given period divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration syste ...

): Fertility rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) by ethnic group.

Life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, respons ...

from 1950 to 2020 (''UN World Population Prospects''): Life expectancy by WBG -South Africa -diff

Ethnic groups

asks people to describe themselves in the census in terms of five

racial Race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 16th century, when it was used to refer to groups of va ...

population groups. The 2011 census figures for these groups were African at 80.2%,

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

at 8.4%,

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

at 8.8%,

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from As ...

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. File:South_Africa_2011_Black_African_population_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Blacks Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ch ...

: 50,486,856 (81.45%) File:South_Africa_2011_Coloured_population_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Coloureds Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

: 5,052,349 (8.15%) File:South_Africa_2011_White_population_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

: 4,504,252 (7.30%) File:South_Africa_2011_Indian_or_Asian_population_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

: 1,697,506 (2.74%)

Languages

South Africa has twelve

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

isiZulu Zulu ( ), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in, and indigenous to, Southern Africa. Nguni dialects are regional or social varieties of the Nguni language, distinguished by vocabulary, pronunciatio ...

24.4%,

isiXhosa Xhosa ( , ), formerly spelled ''Xosa'' and also known by its local name ''isiXhosa'', is a Bantu language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language ...

16.3%,

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

10.6%,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

8.7%, Sepedi 10.0%,

Setswana Tswana, also known by its native name Setswana, is a Bantu language indigenous to Southern Africa and spoken by about 8.2 million people. It is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalaga ...

8.3%,

Sesotho Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Ba ...

7.8%,

Xitsonga Tsonga ( ) or Xitsonga as an endonym (also known as Changana in Mozambique), is a Bantu language spoken by the Tsonga people of South Africa and . It is mutually intelligible with Tswa and Ronga and the name "Tsonga" is often used as a ...

4.7%,

siSwati Swazi or siSwati is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and South Africa by the Swati people. The number of speakers is estimated to be in the region of 4.7 million including first and second langua ...

2.8%,

Tshivenda Venḓa or Tshivenḓa is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is mainly spoken by the Venda people (or Vhavenḓa) in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo province, as well as by some Lemba peop ...

2.5%,

isiNdebele Ndebele language may refer to: * Northern Ndebele language () or Zimbabwean Ndebele, spoken in Zimbabwe * Southern Ndebele language () or Transvaal Ndebele, spoken in South Africa * Sumayela Ndebele language (isiNdebele sesumayela) or Transvaal nde ...

1.7% and

South African Sign Language South African Sign Language (SASL, ) is the primary sign language used by deaf people in South Africa. The South African government added a National Language Unit for South African Sign Language in 2001. SASL is not the only manual language use ...

. In this regard, it is third only to

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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%). 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 Fanagalo, or Fanakalo, is a vernacular or pidgin based primarily on Zulu with input from English and a small amount of Afrikaans. It is used as a lingua franca, mainly in the gold, diamond, coal and copper mining industries in South Africa an ...

Khwe Khwe (also rendered ''Kxoe, Khoe'' ) is a dialect continuum of the Khoe branch of the Khoe-Kwadi family of Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, and parts of Zambia, with some 8,000 speakers. Classification Khwe is a member of the K ...

, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele,

Phuthi Phuthi (''Síphùthì'') is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border. The closest substantial living relative of Phuthi is Swati (or ''Siswati''), spoken in Eswatini and the Mpuma ...

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 Khoikhoi ( /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San (literally "foragers") people ...

contain regional dialects stretching northwards into

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

, 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 Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

. Many white South Africans also speak other

European languages There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three larges ...

, such as

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

(also spoken by black

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

ns and Mozambicans),

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

and

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

, while some Indians and other Asians in South Africa speak

South Asian languages South Asia is home to several hundred languages, spanning the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. It is home to the fourth most spoken language in the world, Hindi–Urdu; the sevent ...

, such as

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

. Although many South Africans are of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

(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 Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

South Africans is

. Other

sign languages Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sig ...

among indigenous peoples are also used. File:South_Africa_2011_Zulu_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Zulu language Zulu ( ), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language of the Nguni languages, Nguni branch spoken in, and indigenous to, Southern Africa. Nguni dialects are regional or social varieties of the Nguni language, ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Xhosa_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Xhosa language Xhosa ( , ), formerly spelled ''Xosa'' and also known by its local name ''isiXhosa'', is a Bantu language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Afrikaans_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Afrikaans language Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento that speaks the Patagonian dialect. It evolved from the Dutc ...

File:South_Africa_2011_English_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Northern_Sotho_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Pedi language Sepedi, also known as Northern Sotho, is one of South Africa’s twelve official languages and belongs to the Bantu language family, specifically the Sotho-Tswana group. The language is spoken mainly in Limpopo Province, and to a lesser exten ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Tswana_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Tswana language Tswana, also known by its Endonym and exonym, native name Setswana, is a Bantu language indigenous to Southern Africa and spoken by about 8.2 million people. It is closely related to the Northern Sotho language, Northern Sotho and Sotho lan ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Sotho_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Sotho language Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Ba ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Tsonga_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Tsonga language Tsonga ( ) or Xitsonga as an endonym and exonym, endonym (also known as Changana in Mozambique), is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken by the Tsonga people of South Africa and . It is mutually intelligible with Tswa language, Tswa a ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Swazi_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Swazi language Swazi or siSwati is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and South Africa by the Swati people. The number of speakers is estimated to be in the region of 4.7 million including first and second langua ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Venda_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Venda language Venḓa or Tshivenḓa is a Bantu languages, Bantu language and an Languages of South Africa, official language of South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is mainly spoken by the Venda people (or Vhavenḓa) in the northern part of South Africa's Limpop ...

File:South_Africa_2011_Ndebele_speakers_proportion_map.svg, alt=,

Southern Ndebele language isiNdebele (), also known as Southern Ndebele is an African language belonging to the Mbo group of Bantu languages, spoken by the Ndebele people of South Africa. Northern Ndebele or Ndebele also known as isi Ndebele is spoken in Limp ...

By ethnicity

In 2011, the first language was Zulu for 28.1% of Black South African residents,

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

for 19.8%, Sepedi for 11.2%,

Tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu languages, Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Tswanaland, ...

for 9.7%,

for 9.3%,

Tsonga Tsonga may refer to: * Tsonga language, a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa * Tsonga people, a large group of people living mainly in southern Mozambique and South Africa. * Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) ...

for 5.5%,

for 3.1%,

Venda Venda ( ), officially the Republic of Venda (; ), was a Bantustan in northern South Africa. It was fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while, to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black hom ...

for 2.9%, English for 2.8%, Southern Ndebele for 2.6%,

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 A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

accounted for 85.3% of the population. This includes

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

(36.6%),

Zionist Christian Zionism is an ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the Jewish people, pursued through the colonization of Palestine, a region roughly cor ...

(11.1%),

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

Charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of magnetic charm, persuasion, or appeal. In the fields of sociology and political science, psychology, and management, the term ''charismatic'' describes a type of leadership. In Christian theology, the term ...

(8.2%),

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

(7.1%),

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

(6.8%),

Dutch Reformed The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal fami ...

(6.7%),

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

(3.8%); members of other Christian churches accounted for another 36% of the population.

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

accounted for 1.5% of the population, Other 2.3%, and 1.4% were Unspecified and None 15.1%.

are largely found among the

and

ethnic groups. They have been joined by black or white South African converts as well as immigrants from other parts of Africa. The

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

population has its roots in the

British colonial period The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

, 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 The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement, is a religious organization that follows the Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. It was founded on 13 July 1966 ...

. Other minority religions in South Africa are

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

and

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

By ethnicity

86.0% of black residents are Christian, 3.0% have no religion, 0.3% are Muslim, 0.0% are

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, 0.0% are

, 9.5% Traditional African and 1.2% have other or undetermined beliefs (2022 Census). 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 (2022 Census).

Other demographic statistics

South Africa Population 1950-2021 Forecast 2022-2032 UN World Population Prospects 2022

The following demographics are from the

CIA World Factbook ''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print ve ...

unless otherwise indicated.

Population

:57,516,665 (2022 est.) :55,380,210 (July 2018 est.)

Age structure

South Africa single age population pyramid 2020

:''0-14 years:'' 27.94% (male 7,894,742/female 7,883,266) :''15-24 years:'' 16.8% (male 4,680,587/female 4,804,337) :''25-54 years:'' 42.37% (male 12,099,441/female 11,825,193) :''55-64 years:'' 6.8% (male 1,782,902/female 2,056,988) :''65 years and over:'' 6.09% (2020 est.) (male 1,443,956/female 1,992,205) :''0-14 years:'' 28.18% (male 7,815,651 /female 7,793,261) :''15-24 years:'' 17.24% (male 4,711,480 /female 4,837,897) :''25-54 years:'' 42.05% (male 11,782,848 /female 11,503,831) :''55-64 years:'' 6.71% (male 1,725,034 /female 1,992,035) :''65 years and over:'' 5.81% (male 1,351,991 /female 1,866,182) (2018 est.)

Birth rate

:18.56 births/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 77th :19.9 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 78th

Death rate

:9.26 deaths/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 52nd :9.3 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 57th

Total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime, if they were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through their lifetime, and they were t ...

:2.18 children born/woman (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 90th :2.26 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 91st

Population growth rate

:0.93% (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 103rd :0.97% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 114th

Median age

:Total: 28 years. Country comparison to the world: 142nd :Male: 27.9 years :Female: 28.1 years (2020 est.) :Total: 27.4 years. Country comparison to the world: 144th :Male: 27.2 years :Female: 27.6 years (2018 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

:54.6% (2016)

Net migration rate

:0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2022 est.) Country comparison to the world: 98th :-0.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 138th

Dependency ratio The dependency ratio is an age-population ratio of those typically not in the labor force (the ''dependent'' part ages 0 to 14 and 65+) and those typically in the labor force (the ''productive'' part ages 15 to 64). It is used to measure the press ...
s

:Total dependency ratio: 52.5 (2015 est.) :Youth dependency ratio: 44.8 (2015 est.) :Elderly dependency ratio: 7.7 (2015 est.) :

Potential support ratio The potential support ratio (PSR) is the number of people age 15–64 per one older person aged 65 or older. This ratio describes the burden placed on the working population (unemployment and children are not considered in this measure) by the n ...

: 12.9 (2015 est.)

Urbanization

:Urban population: 68.3% of total population (2022) :Rate of urbanization: 1.72% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.) :Urban population: 66.4% of total population (2018) :Rate of urbanization: 1.97% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

:Total population: 65.32 years. Country comparison to the world: 202nd :Male: 63.99 years :Female: 66.68 years (2022 est.) :Total population: 64.1 years (2018 est.)

Major infectious diseases

:Degree of risk: intermediate (2020) :

Food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

waterborne diseases Waterborne diseases are conditions (meaning adverse effects on human health, such as death, disability, illness or disorders) caused by pathogenic micro-organisms that are transmitted by water. These diseases can be spread while bathing, washing ...

: bacterial

diarrhea Diarrhea (American English), also spelled diarrhoea or diarrhœa (British English), is the condition of having at least three loose, liquid, or watery bowel movements in a day. It often lasts for a few days and can result in dehydration d ...

hepatitis A Hepatitis A is an infectious liver disease caused by Hepatitis A virus (HAV); it is a type of viral hepatitis. Many cases have few or no symptoms, especially in the young. The time between infection and symptoms, in those who develop them, is ...

, and

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often th ...

:Water contact diseases: schistosomiasis note: widespread ongoing transmission of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

) 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%, coloured 8.8%, white 7.8%, Indian/Asian 2.6% (2021 est.)

Languages

:isiZulu (official) 24.7%, isiXhosa (official) 15.6%, Afrikaans (official) 12.1%, Sepedi (official) 9.8%, Setswana (official) 8.9%, English (official) 8.4%, Sesotho (official) 8%, Xitsonga (official) 4%, siSwati (official) 2.6%, Tshivenda (official) 2.5%, Khoi, Nama, and San languages 1.9% isiNdebele (official) 1.6% (2017 est.) :note: data represent language spoken most often at home

Education expenditures

:6.8% of GDP (2020) Country comparison to the world: 22nd :6.1% of GDP (2017) Country comparison to the world: 34th

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.) :Total population: 95% :Male: 95.5% :Female: 94.5% (2019) :Total population: 94.4% :Male: 95.4% :Female: 95.4% (2015 est.)

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

:Total: 14 years :Male: 13 years :Female: 14 years (2019)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

:Total: 59.4% :Male: 55.4% :Female: 64.1% (2020 est.)

Immigration

South Africa hosts a sizeable

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

and

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country, and makes in that other country a formal application for the right of asylum according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14. A per ...

population. According to the ''World Refugee Survey 2008'', published by the

U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with locations in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Kenya, and a national network of nearly 200 partner agencies that provide support ...

, this population numbered approximately 144,700 in 2007. Groups of refugees and asylum seekers numbering over 10,000 included people from

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

(48,400), the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(24,800), and

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

(12,900). These populations mainly lived in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, and

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

. Many refugees have now also started to work and live in rural areas in provinces such as

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Nguni languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It shares bor ...

and

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

. 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 (MSF; pronounced ), known in some English-speaking settings as Doctors Without Borders, is a charity that provides humanitarian medical care. It is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin known for its projects in conflict zo ...

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.

Urbanisation

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

squatter settlements A shanty town, squatter area, squatter settlement, or squatter camp is a settlement of improvised buildings known as shanties or shacks, typically made of materials such as mud and wood, or from cheap building materials such as corrugated iron sh ...

Graphs and maps

File:South Africa Population Pyramid 2011 estimates.png, Population pyramid by population group, 2011 File:South Africa 2011 Black African population proportion map.svg, Black population File:South Africa 2011 White population proportion map.svg, White population File:South Africa 2011 Coloured population proportion map.svg, Coloured population File:South_Africa_2011_Indian_or_Asian_population_proportion_map.svg, Indian population

References

External links

Sunday Standard article on Zimbabwe Refugee CrisisContains information on the South African middle classMiddle Class in South Africa-Significance, role and impact
{{DEFAULTSORT:Demographics of South Africa, Republic of

History

Population

Earlier Censuses, 1904 to 2011

1904 Census

1960 Census

1904–85 national census numbers

1996 Census

2001 Census

2011 Census

2022 Census

Historical and projected population for the years 1 to 2022

UN Age and population estimates: 1950 to 2030

UN population projections: 2019 to 2100

Vital statistics

Vital statistics

Total fertility rates by province

United Nations Population Estimates

Age and sex distribution

Age and race distribution

Age distribution within each racial group

=By generation

=By five-year cohorts

Racial composition of each age group in 2020 (estimates)

Demographic and Health Surveys

Life expectancy

Ethnic groups

Languages

By ethnicity

Religion

By ethnicity

Other demographic statistics

Population

Age structure

Birth rate

Death rate

Total fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that are born to a woman over her lifetime, if they were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through their lifetime, and they were t ...

Population growth rate

Median age

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Net migration rate

Dependency ratio The dependency ratio is an age-population ratio of those typically not in the labor force (the ''dependent'' part ages 0 to 14 and 65+) and those typically in the labor force (the ''productive'' part ages 15 to 64). It is used to measure the press ...s

Urbanization

Life expectancy at birth

Major infectious diseases

Ethnic groups

Languages

Education expenditures

Literacy

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

Immigration

Immigration figures

Urbanisation

Graphs and maps

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Dependency ratio The dependency ratio is an age-population ratio of those typically not in the labor force (the ''dependent'' part ages 0 to 14 and 65+) and those typically in the labor force (the ''productive'' part ages 15 to 64). It is used to measure the press ...
s