Images from South Africa’s nine provinces. An Nguni cow on a beach on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape. The Brandwag rock in the eastern Free State. Street art in the Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The Durban harbour in KwaZulu-Natal. Entabeni game reserve in Limpopo. Traditional Ndebele domestic artwork in Mpumalanga. Quiver trees in the Northern Cape. Mining in North West. A view of Lion’s Head from the suburb of Bo-Kaap in Cape Town, Western Cape.

South Africa’s nine provinces are the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape.

Jump to:

History

Before 1996, South Africa had four provinces: the Transvaal and Orange Free State – previously Boer republics – and Natal and the Cape, once British colonies.

In 1910 these four states were united into a single country, the Union of South Africa, under British rule. This became the Republic of South Africa in 1960, under apartheid rule.

In the 1970s and eighties, under the apartheid doctrine of “separate development”, the map of South Africa was gradually spattered with the odd outlines of the “homelands”.

These unsustainable states were set up on disjointed parcels of land with no economic value. Laws were passed to make black South Africans citizens of these barren regions, denying black people’s citizenship of South Africa as a whole.

Click image for more information.

In 1996, under South Africa’s new democratic constitution, the homelands were dismantled, citizenship restored and South Africa consolidated into today’s nine provinces.

Land area of the provinces

There are vast differences in the size of the provinces, from the small and crowded city region of Gauteng to the vast and empty Northern Cape.

Data source: Statistics South Africa Census 2022

The land area of South Africa’s nine provinces, from smallest to largest:

• Gauteng: 18,178 square kilometres (1.5% of total)
• Mpumalanga: 76,495 square kilometres (6.3%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: 94,361 square kilometres (7.7%)
• North West: 104,882 square kilometres (8.6%)
• Limpopo: 125,755 square kilometres (10.3%)
• Western Cape: 129,462 square kilometres (10.6%)
• Free State: 129,825 square kilometres (10.6%)
• Eastern Cape: 168,966 square kilometres (13.8%)
• Northern Cape: 372,889 square kilometres (30.5%)
• South Africa: 1,220,813 square kilometres (100%)

READ MORE: How big is South Africa?

Population of the provinces

The population of the provinces also varies considerably. Gauteng, the smallest province, has the largest number of people living there – over a quarter of South Africa’s population. The Northern Cape, which takes up nearly a third of the country’s land area, has the smallest population: just over 2.2% of the national total.

In 2024 South Africa’s provincial populations, and their share of the total, were:

• Eastern Cape: 7,176,230 (11.4%)
• Free State: 3,044,050 (4.8%)
• Gauteng: 15,931,824 (25.3%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: 12,312,712 (19.5%)
• Limpopo: 6,402,594 (10.2%)
• Mpumalanga: 5,057,662 (8.%)
• Northern Cape: 1,372,943 (2.2%)
• North West: 4,155,303 (6.6%)
• Western Cape: 7,562,588 (12.%)

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

CENSUS COUNTS OF PROVINCIAL POPULATIONS

South Africa has held three censuses in its recent democratic history: in 1996, 2001 and 2011. Over those 15 years, the population of the provinces shifted.

Data: Statistics South Africa

Gauteng’s population grew dramatically, overtaking that of KwaZulu-Natal – which saw significant growth of its own. Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape also had notable increases in population. By contrast, the populations of the Eastern Cape, Free State and Northern Cape remained fairly static, as people migrated to other provinces.

READ MORE: Infographic: Census counts of South Africa’s population

Population density in the provinces

The variation in land area and population among South Africa’s population translates into huge differences in population density, according to 2017 data. Gauteng has an average of 785 people per square kilometre, while the Northern Cape has only three people for each square kilometre.

Click image to learn more.

Population density in South Africa’s nine provinces in 2017, from smallest to largest:

• Northern Cape: 3 people per square kilometre
• Free State: 22 people per square kilometre
• North West: 37 people per square kilometre
• Eastern Cape: 38 people per square kilometre
• Limpopo: 46 people per square kilometre
• Western Cape: 50 people per square kilometre
• Mpumalanga: 58 people per square kilometre
• KwaZulu-Natal: 117 people per square kilometre
• Gauteng: 785 people per square kilometre

Map of population density in South Africa’s nine provinces.

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

Provincial migration

South Africans migrate away from poverty to where the jobs are, moving from poorer provinces to the richer ones.

Gauteng is South Africa’s wealthiest province, mostly a city region and the centre of the country’s economy. It has the largest population, constantly swelled by migration. The province’s net migration rate (the number of people moving in minus people moving out) was nearly a million between 2011 and 2016.

Click animation to view from the start. Data: Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2017

The Eastern Cape is the poorest province. Between 2011 and 2016 nearly half a million of its people migrated to other provinces, while only 170 000 or so moved into the province.

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

Province and population group

There is also a wide variation in the racial composition of the different provinces’ populations.

Census 2011 figures reveal that black people were the majority population group in seven of the nine provinces, comprising from 75% to 97% of the provincial total. Yet they made up less than a third of the population in the Western Cape (26.7%) and under a half in the Northern Cape (46.5%).

Click image to learn more.

The distribution of a population group can reflect that people’s history in the country.

In 2011, coloured people were found mainly in the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape (respectively 61.1%, 12% and 10.7% of South Africa’s total coloured population). People of this group are largely descended from a mixture of slaves brought to what was then the Cape Colony, white immigrants to the colony, and indigenous Africans, particularly the Khoisan.

The majority (71.6%) of Indian/Asian people lived in KwaZulu-Natal in 2011. Many members of this group descend from indentured labourers brought to colonial Natal in the early 20th century to work on sugarcane plantations. Only 0.3% of Indians lived in the Free State (0.1% of the total Free State population), as they were forbidden by law to enter what was then the Orange Free State during the apartheid era.

Provincial distribution also reflects a group’s socioeconomic position. White people, the beneficiaries of the apartheid system, were largely found in the more developed and urbanised provinces of Gauteng (in 2011, 40.4% of the total white population, and 18.9% of the total Gauteng population) and the Western Cape (19.4% of the total white population, and 18.4% of the Western Cape population).

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

Languages of the provinces

There’s considerable variation in home languages between the provinces, according to Census 2011.

Click image to find out more.

IsiXhosa, for instance, is spoken by almost 80% of people in the Eastern Cape, while around 78% of those in KwaZulu-Natal speak isiZulu. IsiZulu is also the most common home language in Gauteng, but at a much smaller percentage. In the Western Cape and Northern Cape, Afrikaans comes into its own.

READ MORE: The languages of South Africa

The main languages in each province, according to Census 2011:

• Eastern Cape: isiXhosa 78.8%, Afrikaans 10.6%
• Free State: Sesotho 64.2%, Afrikaans 12.7%
• Gauteng: isiZulu 19.8%, English 13.3%, Afrikaans 12.4%, Sesotho 11.6%
• KwaZulu-Natal: isiZulu 77.8%, English 13.2%
• Limpopo: Sesotho 52.9%, Xitsonga 17%, Tshivenda 16.7%
• Mpumalanga: siSwati 27.7%, isiZulu 24.1%, Xitsonga 10.4%, isiNdebele 10.1%
• Northern Cape: Afrikaans 53.8%, Setswana 33.1%
• North West: Setswana 63.4%, Afrikaans 9%
• Western Cape: Afrikaans 49.7%, isiXhosa 24.7%, English 20.3%

Click image to learn more.

Economy of the provinces

Gauteng dominates almost all industries in South Africa, except agriculture and mining.

Click animation to see a static version, and to learn more.

In 2016 the main industries in each province were:

• Eastern Cape: government services 21%, trade, catering and accommodation 18%, finance 16%
• Free State: government services 15%, finance 14%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%
• Gauteng: finance 23%, government services 19%, manufacturing 14%
• KwaZulu-Natal: manufacturing 16%, finance 15%, government services 15%
• Limpopo: mining 25%, government services 18%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%
• Mpumalanga: mining 20%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%, manufacturing 13%
• Northern Cape: mining 19%, government services 15%, finance 12%
• North West: mining 30%, government services 12%, finance 12%
• Western Cape: finance 23%, trade, catering and accommodation 15%, manufacturing 14%

THE PROVINCE’S SHARE OF SOUTH AFRICA’S ECONOMY

Population size correlates with each province’s contribution to the national economy, with Gauteng having the biggest.

The tiny province punches way above its weight, making up 33.8% of South Africa’s gross domestic product in 2016 and around 5% of the GDP of Africa as a whole. Next is KwaZulu-Natal with 16%, followed by the Western Cape with 13.7%. These three provinces together contribute nearly two-thirds to total economy of South Africa.

In 2016 the value of each province’s economy, and its share of the total GDP of South Africa, was:

• Northern Cape: R91 billion (2.1% of South Africa’s GDP)
• Free State: R218 billion (5%)
• North West: R280 billion (6.4%)
• Limpopo: R312 billion (7.2%)
• Mpumalanga: R324 billion (7.4%)
• Eastern Cape: R331 billion (7.6%)
• Western Cape: R596 billion (13.7%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: R692 billion (15.9%)
• Gauteng: R1.5 trillion (34.6%)

Government of the provinces

The eye-catching architecture of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature in Galeshewe, Kimberley. Click image for a larger view. (Graeme Williams, MediaClub)

South Africa’s provinces are governed, in different ways, on a national, provincial and local level.

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

On the national level, South Africa has two houses of parliament: the National Assembly, and the National Council of Provinces. The second exists to ensure that the interests of each province are protected in the laws passed by the National Assembly.

Each one of South Africa’s nine provinces sends 10 representatives to the National Council of Provinces. Six of these are permanent members of the council, and four are special delegates.

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

Each province has its own provincial government.

The provincial legislature has the power to pass laws in certain limited areas. The legislature has between 30 and 80 members depending on the province’s portion of the national voters’ roll.

The premier – the head of government in the province – governs the province together with other “members of the executive council”, known as MECs. Each MEC has a specific responsibility, such as health, education, tourism and transport.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The nine provinces are each further divided into municipalities. Metropolitan municipalities are densely populated urban areas with major cities – such as Johannesburg or Durban – at their core. District municipalities are larger, less urban regions centred on one or more town or small city. District municipalities are further divided into local municipalities.

The cities of the provinces

Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal. A contemporary statue of Mahatma Ghandi, an icon of resistance to colonial rule, stands against the heavily ornate facade of the Pietermaritzburg city hall, a building constructed during the era of the British Natal Colony. (E, CC BY-NC 2.0)

Each of the nine provinces has a provincial capital, the seat of provincial government. These are usually the largest city in the province – Johannesburg in Gauteng, for example, or Mahikeng in North West.

The exceptions are the Eastern Cape (Bhisho) and KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg), which have smaller cities as their capitals for reasons of history. Cape Town in the Western Cape and Bloemfontein in the Free State also stand out for being both provincial capitals and two of the three capital cities of South Africa.

The provincial capitals and major cities of South Africa’s nine provinces are:

• Eastern Cape: Bhisho (capital) and Port Elizabeth (major city)
• Free State: Bloemfontein (capital and major city)
• Gauteng: Johannesburg (capital and major city)
• KwaZulu-Natal: Pietermaritzburg (capital) and Durban (major city)
• Limpopo: Polokwane (capital and major city)
• Mpumalanga: Mbombela (capital and major city) – also known as Nelspruit
• North West: Mahikeng (capital and major city) – formerly known as Mafeking, then as Mafikeng
• Northern Cape: Kimberley (capital and major city)
• Western Cape: Cape Town (capital and major city)

Data: Statistics South Africa Census 2011

Sources

• Census South Africa public database
• Statistics South Africa Census 2022
• Statistics South Africa Census 2011
• Statistics South Africa Community Survey 2016
• Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2017
• Statistics South Africa gross domestic product, fourth quarter 2017
• United Nations Statistics Division World Statistics Pocketbook 2017
• World Bank Open Data
• MediaClub

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated July 2025.
Comments? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com

The post The nine provinces of South Africa appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

A child plays in a restaurant in Vosloorus, a large township in Gauteng province. (Media Club)

The country has the sixth largest population in Africa – after Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania – and the 24th largest in the world.

Jump to:

South Africa’s population: overview

According to Statistics South Africa’s 2024 mid-year population estimates, South Africa is home to 63,015,904 people.

Black people are in the majority, with a population of 51.5 million – 81.7% of the total. The remaining 18.3% is made up of 5.3 million coloured people (8.5%), 1.6 million Indian/Asian people (2.6%) and 4.5 million white people (7.2%).

Data source: Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2024

These ratios have changed since the country became a democracy in 1994. The percentage of black people has increased, that of coloured and Indian/Asian people has stayed roughly the same, while the share of white people has shrunk.

The 1996 census, the first of the democratic era, recorded a population of 40.6 million. Black people made up 76.7% of the total, coloured people 8.9%, Indian/Asian people 2.6%, white people 10.9% and an uncategorised group 0.9%.

In about 2013 the coloured population overtook the white population as South Africa’s second-largest group.

READ MORE: Geographic distribution of South Africa’s races

Population of the provinces

The population of South Africa’s nine provinces varies enormously.

Data source: Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2024

The most striking difference is between Gauteng and the Northern Cape. Gauteng is a city region of just 18,178 square kilometres – 1.4% of South Africa’s land area – yet it’s home to over a quarter of the country’s people. The arid and rural Northern Cape takes up almost a third of South Africa, but only 2.2% of the population live there.

Then there’s KwaZulu-Natal, home to almost a fifth of the population, and the larger Free State, home to only 4.8%.

Data source: Statistics South Africa Census 2022

In 2024 South Africa’s provincial populations, and their share of the total, were:

• Eastern Cape: 7,176,230 (11.4%)
• Free State: 3,044,050 (4.8%)
• Gauteng: 15,931,824 (25.3%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: 12,312,712 (19.5%)
• Limpopo: 6,402,594 (10.2%)
• Mpumalanga: 5,057,662 (8.%)
• Northern Cape: 1,372,943 (2.2%)
• North West: 4,155,303 (6.6%)
• Western Cape: 7,562,588 (12.%)

READ MORE: The nine provinces of South Africa

Population density

South Africa’s population density is about 46 people per square kilometre, according to 2017 data.

In the provinces, differences in size and population mean different population densities. Gauteng, small but populous, has an average of 785 people for every square kilometre. KwaZulu-Natal has 117 people per square kilometre. The empty Northern Cape has just three people for each square kilometre.

READ MORE: The nine provinces of South Africa

Life, death and HIV

The 2024 estimate of average life expectancy at birth in South Africa is 66.5 years – 69.2 years for females and 63.6 years for males. This is up from a predicted life expectancy of 54.7 years in 2002, before any serious effort to tackle the HIV and Aids epidemic began.

The crude birth rate is 19.6 babies born for every 1,000 people. The total fertility rate is an average of 2.4 babies born to a woman over her lifetime. The crude death rate is 8.7 per 1,000.

Infant mortality (babies who die in their first year of birth) is 22.9 deaths for every 1,000 live births. The under-five mortality rate is 28.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.

These rates show an improvement on child survival since 2002, when infant mortality was 57 deaths and under-five mortality 79.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Some 8 million people are HIV positive, making up 12.7% of South Africa’s total population of 63 million. Women are hardest hit by the disease: over a fifth (20.5%) of all women aged 15 to 49 are HIV positive.

The total HIV prevalence rate was lower in 2002, at 8.9% of the population. The higher rate in 2024 reflects progress in the rollout of antiretroviral therapy, as more people live with HIV instead of dying of Aids.

READ MORE: HIV and Aids in South Africa

Age structure

South Africa has 17.3 million children aged 14 or younger, making kids the largest age group in the country and nearly a third (27.5%) of the population.

Poorer provinces tend to have a larger share of children and wealthier provinces a smaller share. In the Limpopo 33.1% of the population is aged 0 to 14 and in the Eastern Cape it’s 31.7%. By contrast, children make up 23% of Gauteng’s population and 22.9% of the Western Cape’s.

For the country as a whole, the second largest age group is from 30 to 44 (24.8%), closely followed by 15 to 29 (24.2%). Older groups are smaller: 13.8% are 45 to 59, 7.5% aged 60 to 74, and 2.2% 75 or older.

Age and race

Click image to find out more.

Data from 2017 reveals that when it comes to age structure and race, South Africa’s population reflects the facts of history and continued inequality.

While black South Africans are in the majority in every age group, this majority decreases as the age of the population rises. Coloured, Indian and especially white South Africans tend to live longer.

Click to view from the start.

Migration

Click image to find out more.

South Africans migrate away from poverty to where the jobs are. They move from poorer provinces to the richer ones, and from rural areas to the cities.

Gauteng is South Africa’s wealthiest province, mostly a city region and the centre of the country’s economy. It has the largest population, constantly swelled by migration.

In the 10 years from mid-2011 to mid-2021, net migration (number of people moving in minus people moving out) into Gauteng increased the province’s population by almost 1.9 million people.

The Western Cape, the third-largest provincial economy with the lowest poverty level, had net migration of 646,529 over the same 10 years. Conversely, KwaZulu-Natal – the second-largest – lost 18,333 of its people to migration from 2011 to 2021. While the province has a large economy, it also has relatively high levels of poverty.

The Eastern Cape has, by far, the highest level of poverty of all the provinces – and the highest number of people moving elsewhere. Its net migration for 2011 to 2021 was a negative 603,044. Limpopo had the second-highest rate of outward migration, at -300,527.

Net migration (people moving in minus people moving out) for South Africa’s provinces, 2011 to 2021:

• Eastern Cape: -603,044
• Free State: -23,128
• Gauteng: 1,856,006
• KwaZulu-Natal: -18,333
• Limpopo: -300,527
• Mpumalanga: 178,386
• Northern Cape: 17,063
• North West: 228,675
• Western Cape: 646,529

Click animation to view from the start.

READ MORE: The nine provinces of South Africa

International migration

South Africa’s international migration rates tend to be positive – more people move here, particularly from the rest of Africa, than leave.

From mid-2011 to mid-2021 net international migration into the country was 2.7 million. Most of the migrants (2.8 million) were from elsewhere in Africa, with a further net migration of 176,120 Indian/Asian people.

The total was offset by the net loss of 286,611 white people to other countries.

Net international migration for South Africa, 2011 to 2021:

• African: 2,850,656
• Indian/Asian: 176,120
• White: -286,611
• Total: 2,740,165

Trends in South Africa’s population from 1960

Age structure

There’s a lot of talk of South Africa’s population being dominated by the youth. But as the graphic below shows, we’re less youthful than we have been for decades.

The end of apartheid, better healthcare, widespread social welfare and greater economic opportunities all mean South Africans are now able to live longer lives – reducing the proportion of children and youth in our total population. See the actual figures for selected years.

READ MORE: Infographic: South Africa’s population and age structure from 1960 to 2015

Urbanisation

From 1960 to the late 1980s, apartheid laws kept families and communities in poor rural areas. Young men alone were allowed to move to the cities, where their labour was valuable.

After the end of apartheid, from the mid-1990s, urbanisation increased rapidly. In the last 20 years, much of the migration from rural areas has been to Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city since 1950.

READ MORE: Infographic: South Africa’s urban and rural population from 1960 to 2015

Life expectancy

Charting South Africans’ life expectancy is to track the country’s modern history. In 1960, a time of terrible apartheid abuse, an average newborn child was expected to have a lifespan of only 52 years – 50 years for boys. In 2015, life expectancy was 62 years.

In between, life expectancy has risen and fallen. The most severe drop was during the crisis of the HIV and Aids epidemic from 1995 to 2005. In 2005, life expectancy was the same as it had been in 1960.

READ MORE: Infographic: Life expectancy in South Africa from 1960 to 2015

Child mortality

The death rate of children is the starkest indicator of the health of a country’s society and economy. In 1974 South Africa’s mortality rate – deaths per 1,000 live births – was 88.1 for infants under a year and 125.5 for under-fives. By 2016 it had dropped to 34.2 for infants and 43.3 for under-fives – the lowest rate yet recorded.

READ MORE: Infographic: Child mortality in South Africa from 1974 to 2016

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander. Updated August 2025.
Comments? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com

The post South Africa’s population appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Map of South Africa showing the percentage of households living in poverty in each municipality, according to data from the Statistics South Africa Community Survey 2016.

South Africa’s poorest province is the Eastern Cape. The wealthiest province is Gauteng. Around 880,000 of the mostly rural Eastern Cape’s people live in poverty. In Gauteng, a city region with the best opportunities for jobs, some 610,000 people live in poverty.

These numbers are calculated from Statistics South Africa’s 2016 Community Survey.

Poverty in South Africa has deep historical roots that show up in more recent movements of people.

Map of South Africa showing estimated numbers of people living in poverty. The numbers are calculated from the population, poverty headcount and average household size of each municipality.

The reason so many South Africans live in poverty, in a middle-income country, is apartheid and colonialism. Apartheid was a crude attempt at social engineering designed to make black South Africans a cheap and plentiful source of labour. It was preceded by centuries of Dutch and then British colonialism that had the same goal, but with cruder mechanisms.

Colonialism and apartheid excluded the majority of people from meaningful participation in the economy. It made South Africa poorer than it should have been.

South Africa has a wealth of resources. But for centuries, this potential was squandered.

A government policy designed to keep most of its people poor seems absurd. But until 1994 South Africa was not a democracy. The only electorate the government had to please was white people.

Colonial and apartheid planners purposefully built a system that prevented black South Africans from earning, prospering and contributing to the wealth of the country. That sucked the potential for growth out of the economy.

Click animation to view from the start.

Today, geographical patterns of poverty on the map of South Africa still correspond to the apartheid “homelands”, barren rural regions far from cities, packed with people but with little infrastructure, no development and few jobs. Municipalities with high percentages of people living in poverty are today often found in regions that were once homelands.

But when we look at total numbers of people living in poverty, the cities stand out. Cities have larger numbers of people, so more people living in poverty are likely to be found there.

Migration from the rural areas to the cities is an important feature of recent South African history. Apartheid laws confined the poor to the rural areas. Once those laws were lifted in the late 1980s, poor people began to move to the cities – where they often stayed poor. And they keep moving.

How is poverty measured?

People are living there. Children play and adults work in Alexandra township, one of the poorest areas in Gauteng. Alex lies on the border of the wealthy suburb of Sandton, said to be the richest square mile in Africa. (CA Bloem)

Poverty is easy to see, but less easy to define – or to measure across a city, a province or a country. Many measures of poverty use money. If a person lives on less than a certain threshold income they are considered to be living in poverty.

Income is used for the three national poverty lines developed in South Africa. These are the food poverty line (set at R531 per person per month in April 2017), the lower-bound poverty line (R758) and the upper-bound poverty line (R1,138).

Another picture can be painted when we look beyond income to the other ways people experience poverty. How does poverty reveal itself in people’s health, their level of education, the dwelling they live in, how they cook their food, the water they drink? Poverty examined according to different types of deprivation is known as multidimensional poverty.

For its 2016 Community Survey, on which the maps on this page were based, Statistics South Africa used the South African Multidimensional Poverty Index.

Click animation to view from the start.

The index calculates the poverty of households according to four aspects of life: health, education, living standards and economic activity.

These four are known as the dimensions of poverty. Each dimension is assessed according to different indicators.

The poverty indicators

The health dimension has only one indicator: child mortality, or whether a child under the age of five living in the household has died in the past year.

Education has two indicators. One is years of schooling, or whether no person in the household aged 15 or older has completed five years of schooling. The other, school attendance, looks at whether any school-age child seven to 15 years old does not attend school.

Living standards has seven indicators, to do with fuel, water, sanitation, type of dwelling and ownership of assets. What fuel does the household use for lighting, heating and cooking? Is there piped water in the dwelling? Does the household have a flushing toilet? What kind of dwelling does the household live in? What does the household own?

Economic activity is measured by joblessness: whether all the adults, people aged 15 to 64, are out of work.

Each household is scored according to these indicators. If the score is 33.3% or more, the household is living in poverty – they are “multidimensionally poor”.

Intensity of poverty

The score also measures the intensity of poverty.

In the 2016 Community Survey, the average intensity of the poverty experienced by multidimensionally poor people in the nine provinces ranged from 40.1% in the Western Cape to 44.1% in Gauteng.

* Estimate

In Gauteng, only 4.6% of the population live in poverty. But the poverty experienced in Gauteng, the wealthiest province, is the most intense.

The multidimensional poverty index is not intended to replace the other important measures of poverty.

The food poverty line, for example, is the rand value below which people are unable to buy enough food to give them the minimum daily energy requirement for adequate health.

The multidimensional index, Statistics South Africa says, should rather be seen as “a complementary measure to these money-metric measures”.

How do we fight poverty?

According to the World Bank, South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. This is not only inequality of income. As the bank said in a report: “Inequality of opportunity, measured by the influence of race, parents’ education, parents’ occupation, place of birth, and gender influence opportunities, is high.”

South Africa’s social welfare system attempts to reduce the worst deprivations of poverty. This “social wage” is paid to the poor in a number of ways.

It includes free primary healthcare, no-fee schools, RDP housing and housing subsidies, free basic water, electricity and sanitation for the poorest households, and social grants.

When South Africa became a democracy in 1994, social protection was introduced as a short-term measure to ease the dire poverty created by apartheid. But social grants are now the only livelihood of many South Africans, and remain essential to reducing poverty.

Sources

• Statistics South Africa Community Survey 2016
• Community Survey 2016: Provinces at a Glance
• The South African Multidimensional Poverty Index
• Statistics South Africa: Poverty Trends in South Africa
• World Bank and Statistics South Africa: Overcoming Poverty and Inequality in South Africa
• South African Social Security Agency: New social grant amounts
• South African Social Security Agency: Statistical reports

Read more

• Animation: Measuring the dimensions of poverty in South Africa
• Infographic: Exploring poverty in South Africa’s provinces
• The provinces and ‘homelands’ of South Africa before 1996
• Map: Distribution of South Africa’s races
• The nine provinces of South Africa
• Infographic: Population density in South Africa’s provinces
• The economies of South Africa’s provinces
• South Africa’s population

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 8 July 2025.
Comments? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com

The post Mapping poverty in South Africa appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

DOWNLOAD JPEG | DOWNLOAD PNG

In between, life expectancy has risen and fallen. The most severe drop was during the crisis of the HIV and Aids epidemic, from 1995 to 2005. In 2005, life expectancy was the same as it had been in 1960.

After antiretroviral medication to treat HIV became available in all state hospitals and clinics in 2005, life expectancy rose again until, in 2015, is was where it had been in 1994.

Read more: HIV and Aids in South Africa

Other periods of our history can also be recognised.

The economic growth of the 1960s and early 1970s, spurred by South Africa’s mineral wealth, created many more jobs – and people could expect to live longer. But from the 1970s life expectancy began to level out. The country’s economy was hit hard by the 1974 oil crisis, and continued to stagnate through the 1980s. South Africa was increasingly isolated from the rest of the world, and the cracks of an inherently inefficient economy designed to exclude the majority began to show.

The 1980s were also a time of violence, when the country came dangerously close to civil war.

Life expectancy rose again in the late 1980s, when apartheid was slowly reformed, and early 1990s, after apartheid was finally abandoned.

Read more: South Africa’s population

What is life expectancy?

Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.

Life expectancy in 1960

Total life expectancy: 52 years
Male life expectancy: 50 years
Female life expectancy: 54 years

Life expectancy in 1965

Total life expectancy: 54 years
Male life expectancy: 52 years
Female life expectancy: 56 years

Life expectancy in 1970

Total life expectancy: 56 years
Male life expectancy: 53 years
Female life expectancy: 59 years

Life expectancy in 1975

Total life expectancy: 57 years
Male life expectancy: 54 years
Female life expectancy: 61 years

Life expectancy in 1980

Total life expectancy: 58 years
Male life expectancy: 54 years
Female life expectancy: 61 years

Life expectancy in 1985

Total life expectancy: 60 years
Male life expectancy: 56 years
Female life expectancy: 63 years

Life expectancy in 1990

Total life expectancy: 62 years
Male life expectancy: 58 years
Female life expectancy: 66 years

Life expectancy in 1995

Total life expectancy: 61 years
Male life expectancy: 58 years
Female life expectancy: 65 years

Life expectancy in 2000

Total life expectancy: 56 years
Male life expectancy: 53 years
Female life expectancy: 60 years

Life expectancy in 2005

Total life expectancy: 53 years
Male life expectancy: 50 years
Female life expectancy: 55 years

Life expectancy in 2010

Total life expectancy: 56 years
Male life expectancy: 53 years
Female life expectancy: 59 years

Life expectancy in 2015

Total life expectancy: 62 years
Male life expectancy: 58 years
Female life expectancy: 66 years

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated  16 August 2021.

The post Infographic: Life expectancy in South Africa from 1960 to 2015 appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

See below for a static version of this animation.

Gauteng contributes more than a third to South Africa’s economy and dominates every sector except mining and agriculture. Mining is the main industry of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and the Northern Cape. KwaZulu-Natal has the country’s largest farming sector, but the province’s major industry is manufacturing – second in size only to manufacturing in Gauteng.

Gauteng’s biggest sector is finance, real estate and business services, which makes up almost a quarter of the province’s economy, followed by general government services, and then manufacturing.

General government services include all major government administrative spending, as well as social grants. Investment in public healthcare and education fall under the category personal services.

Government services make the biggest contribution to the economies of the Free State (followed by finance) and the Eastern Cape (followed by trade, catering and accommodation).

The Western Cape’s largest industry is finance, followed by trade, catering and accommodation (a sector that roughly corresponds to shopping, leisure and tourism).

• READ MORE: The nine provinces of South Africa

In 2016 the main industries in each province were:

• Eastern Cape: government services 21%, trade, catering and accommodation 18%, finance 16%
• Free State: government services 15%, finance 14%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%
• Gauteng: finance 23%, government services 19%, manufacturing 14%
• KwaZulu-Natal: manufacturing 16%, finance 15%, government services 15%
• Limpopo: mining 25%, government services 18%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%
• Mpumalanga: mining 20%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%, manufacturing 13%
• Northern Cape: mining 19%, government services 15%, finance 12%
• North West: mining 30%, government services 12%, finance 12%
• Western Cape: finance 23%, trade, catering and accommodation 15%, manufacturing 14%

See below for the actual figures.

DOWNLOAD JPEG | DOWNLOAD PNG

Provincial economies in numbers

Here’s the composition and value of South Africa’s provincial economies in 2016.

All amounts are in millions of rands, so (for example) R7,140 means R7.1-billion, and R1,507,082 means R1.5-trillion.

Eastern Cape economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R5,695 (1.9%)
• Mining and quarrying: R437 (0.1%)
• Manufacturing: R37,724 (12.8%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R7,140 (2.4%)
• Construction: R12,543 (4.2%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R60,351 (20.4%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R27,759 (9.4%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R53,401 (18.1%)
• Personal services: R21,880 (7.4%)
• General government services: R68,820 (23.3%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R35,343
• Eastern Cape GDP at market prices (millions): R331,093

Free State economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R10,057 (5.2%)
• Mining and quarrying: R20,501 (10.5%)
• Manufacturing: R22,560 (11.6%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R8,871 (4.6%)
• Construction: R4,990 (2.6%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R27,410 (14.1%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R20,203 (10.4%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R30,551 (15.7%)
• Personal services: R15,511 (8.0%)
• General government services: R33,711 (17.3%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R23,485
• Free State GDP at market prices (millions): R217,849

Gauteng economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R6,344 (0.5%)
• Mining and quarrying: R33,927 (2.5%)
• Manufacturing: R204,292 (15.2%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R43,657 (3.2%)
• Construction: R53,278 (4.0%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R180,864 (13.5%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R136,434 (10.1%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R340,571 (25.3%)
• Personal services: R66,177 (4.9%)
• General government services: R278,994 (20.8%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R162,545
• Gauteng GDP at market prices (millions): R1,507,082

KwaZulu-Natal economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R23,896 (3.9%)
• Mining and quarrying: R9,226 (1.5%)
• Manufacturing: R112,407 (18.2%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R24,005 (3.9%)
• Construction: R26,836 (4.3%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R94,782 (15.3%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R83,412 (13.5%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R103,667 (16.8%)
• Personal services: R37,262 (6.0%)
• General government services: R103,395 (16.7%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R73,334
• KwaZulu-Natal GDP at market prices (millions): R692,222

Limpopo economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R7,051 (2.5%)
• Mining and quarrying: R77,239 (27.8%)
• Manufacturing: R8,124 (2.9%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R12,332 (4.4%)
• Construction: R9,158 (3.3%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R41,984 (15.1%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R13,957 (5.0%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R40,554 (14.6%)
• Personal services: R11,870 (4.3%)
• General government services: R55,104 (19.9%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R34,313
• Limpopo GDP at market prices (millions): R311,686

Mpumalanga economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R8,268 (2.9%)
• Mining and quarrying: R64,958 (22.5%)
• Manufacturing: R40,810 (14.2%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R22,522 (7.8%)
• Construction: R9,073 (3.1%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R42,455 (14.7%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R19,065 (6.6%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R33,406 (11.6%)
• Personal services: R11,278 (3.9%)
• General government services: R36,273 (12.6%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R35,613
• Mpumalanga GDP at market prices (millions): R323,722

Northern Cape economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R5,937 (7.3%)
• Mining and quarrying: R17,220 (21.2%)
• Manufacturing: R2,927 (3.6%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R3,344 (4.1%)
• Construction: R2,946 (3.6%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R9,771 (12.0%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R9,946 (12.2%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R10,779 (13.3%)
• Personal services: R4,405 (5.4%)
• General government services: R14,001 (17.2%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R9,607
• Northern Cape GDP at market prices (millions): R90,883

North West economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R6,637 (2.7%)
• Mining and quarrying: R82,529 (33.3%)
• Manufacturing: R13,401 (5.4%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R8,618 (3.5%)
• Construction: R6,129 (2.5%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R29,349 (11.8%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R16,183 (6.5%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R32,957 (13.3%)
• Personal services: R18,909 (7.6%)
• General government services: R33,267 (13.4%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R31,755
• North West GDP at market prices (millions): R279,733

Western Cape economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R20,873 (3.9%)
• Mining and quarrying: R1,268 (0.2%)
• Manufacturing: R81,540 (15.3%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R15,534 (2.9%)
• Construction: R29,416 (5.5%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R91,247 (17.1%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R57,544 (10.8%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R138,179 (25.9%)
• Personal services: R35,555 (6.7%)
• General government services: R61,393 (11.5%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R63,495
• Western Cape GDP at market prices (millions): R596,043

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 17 June 2021.
Comments? Email mary1alexander@mail.com

The graphics on this page are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

The post The economies of South Africa’s nine provinces appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

DOWNLOAD JPEG | DOWNLOAD PNG

Read more: South Africa’s population

In 2017 the population density in South Africa’s provinces, and the country, was:

• Eastern Cape: 38 people per square kilometre
• Free State: 22 people per square kilometre
• Gauteng: 785 people per square kilometre
• KwaZulu-Natal: 117 people per square kilometre
• Limpopo: 46 people per square kilometre
• Mpumalanga: 58 people per square kilometre
• Northern Cape: 3 people per square kilometre
• North West: 37 people per square kilometre
• Western Cape: 50 people per square kilometre
• South Africa: 46 people per square kilometre

Updated 13 October 2019

More infographics

The post Infographic: Population density of South Africa’s provinces in 2017 appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Click animation to view from the start.

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

Most black South Africans die young. Most white South Africans live long lives.

In between, coloured South Africans statistically live a bit longer than black people. Indian South Africans tend to have shorter lives than white people.

Inequality and social injustice don’t only limit how people live. They also limit how long people live.

South Africa isn’t unusual in the way wealth and privilege run with race. What is unusual is that, thanks to the old apartheid state’s attention to bureaucratic detail, we still have a system of recording life and death statistics by race.

Race isn’t a real thing. But the concept has a history in South Africa, and still affects people’s lives. We still need statistics on it.

Statistics South Africa uses “population group” as a better term for “race”. France stopped recording population statistics by race in 1978. According to the Guardian, this now has “the side-effect of making systemic racism in the labour market much harder to quantify”.

South African notions of race, made law as late as 1950, are maybe more absurd than most. Our “races” are weird.

We have black people. We have white people. We have “coloured” people. But – wait. Black people, and coloured people? We also have a population group known as “Indian or Asian”.

Black, coloured, white, Indian-or-Asian. The labels come from history. In biology they are meaningless. In culture they describe nothing.

But they still determine who will live a longer life, and who won’t.

READ MORE: Infographic: The people of South Africa by age, sex and race 

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 17 June 2019.

The post Animation: How long do South Africans live? appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Data: Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2017

Gauteng is South Africa’s wealthiest province, mostly a city region and the centre of the country’s economy. It has the largest population, constantly increased by migration. Gauteng’s net migration rate (the number of people moving in minus people moving out) was nearly two million between 2006 and 2016. Its population will be swelled by another million from 2016 to 2021.

The Eastern Cape is the poorest province. Between 2006 and 2016 a million of its people migrated to other provinces, while only 300,000 or so moved into the province, leaving the Eastern Cape with a negative net migration of minus 700,000 people. From 2016 to 2021 the Eastern Cape is expected to lose another 324,000 people to migration.

Read more

• South Africa’s population
• The nine provinces of South Africa
• Infographic: The population of South Africa’s nine provinces
• Infographic: Population density in South Africa’s nine provinces
• Animation: The economies of South Africa’s provinces

Estimated migration between the provinces from 2006 to 2011

Estimated migration between the provinces from 2011 to 2016

Projected migration between the provinces from 2016 to 2021

• Data: Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2017

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 2 October 2020

The graphic on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

The post Moving to the city: Provincial migration in South Africa from 2002 to 2017 appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

The most striking difference is between Gauteng and the Northern Cape. Gauteng is a city region of just 18,178 square kilometres, 1.4% of South Africa’s land area, yet it’s home to over a quarter of the country’s people. The Northern Cape takes up almost a third of South Africa, but it is a region of arid wilderness and hardscrabble farmland in which only 2.2% of the population live.

Then there’s KwaZulu-Natal, home to almost a fifth of the population, and the Free State, home to only 5%.

In 2024 South Africa’s provincial populations, and their share of the total, were:

• Eastern Cape: 7,176,230 (11.4%)
• Free State: 3,044,050 (4.8%)
• Gauteng: 15,931,824 (25.3%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: 12,312,712 (19.5%)
• Limpopo: 6,402,594 (10.2%)
• Mpumalanga: 5,057,662 (8.%)
• Northern Cape: 1,372,943 (2.2%)
• North West: 4,155,303 (6.6%)
• Western Cape: 7,562,588 (12.%)

• Read more: South Africa’s population

Written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 10 March 2024.

More infographics

The post Infographic: The population of South Africa’s nine provinces appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

DOWNLOAD JPEG | DOWNLOAD PNG

Read more: South Africa’s population

South Africa’s population in 1960

Total population: 17,396,367
Ages 0 to 14: 7,193,897 (41%)
Ages 15 to 29: 4,329,054 (25%)
Ages 30 to 44: 2,983,385 (17%)
Ages 45 to 59: 1,847,726 (11%)
Ages 60 to 74: 863,746 (5%)
Ages 75 and over: 178,556 (1%)

South Africa’s population in 1970

Total population: 22,502,502
Ages 0 to 14: 9,363,329 (42%)
Ages 15 to 29: 5,786,692 (26%)
Ages 30 to 44: 3,674,655 (16%)
Ages 45 to 59: 2,343,092 (10%)
Ages 60 to 74: 1,102,696 (5%)
Ages 75 and over: 232,037 (1%)

South Africa’s population in 1980

Total population: 29,077,143
Ages 0 to 14: 11,939,151 (41%)
Ages 15 to 29: 7,962,990 (27%)
Ages 30 to 44: 4,686,228 (16%)
Ages 45 to 59: 2,849,651 (10%)
Ages 60 to 74: 1,352,716 (5%)
Ages 75 and over: 286,409 (1%)

South Africa’s population in 1990

Total population: 36,793,490
Ages 0 to 14: 14,410,660 (39%)
Ages 15 to 29: 10,246,215 (28%)
Ages 30 to 44: 6,500,916 (18%)
Ages 45 to 59: 3,613,103 (10%)
Ages 60 to 74: 1,654,109 (5%)
Ages 75 and over: 368,487 (1%)

South Africa’s population in 2000

Total population: 44,896,856
Ages 0 to 14: 15,089,567 (34%)
Ages 15 to 29: 13,184,993 (29%)
Ages 30 to 44: 8,799,112 (20%)
Ages 45 to 59: 5,004,477 (11%)
Ages 60 to 74: 2,278,523 (5%)
Ages 75 and over: 540,187 (1%)

South Africa’s population in 2010

Total population: 50,979,432
Ages 0 to 14: 15,513,076 (30%)
Ages 15 to 29: 14,937,341 (29%)
Ages 30 to 44: 10,473,836 (21%)
Ages 45 to 59: 6,397,068 (13%)
Ages 60 to 74: 2,900,124 (6%)
Ages 75 and over: 757,989 (2%)

South Africa’s population in 2016

Total population: 55,908,865
Ages 0 to 14: 16,312,843 (29%)
Ages 15 to 29: 15,416,471 (28%)
Ages 30 to 44: 12,202,100 (22%)
Ages 45 to 59: 7,384,681 (13%)
Ages 60 to 74: 3,650,749 (7%)
Ages 75 and over: 941,985 (2%)

Source: Statistics South Africa, United Nations World Population Prospects, World Bank Open Data

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 28 February 2018.

More infographics

The post Infographic: South Africa’s population and age structure from 1960 to 2016 appeared first on South Africa Gateway.