South Africa
South Africa | Facts & Information
South Africa Profile History News and Current Events
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Facts & Figures
President: Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (2018)
Total area: 470,693 sq mi (1,219,090 sq km), Land area: 468,909 sq mi (1,214,470 sq km), Water area: 1,783 sq mi (4,620 sq km).
Population (2022 est.): 57,516,665 (growth rate: 0.93%); birth rate: 18.56/1000; infant mortality rate: 25.87/1000; life expectancy: 65.32; density per sq mi: 109.8 (2011)
Administrative capital (2022 est.): Pretoria, 2.74 million; Legislative capital: Cape Town, 4.801 million. Judicial capital: Bloemfontein, 556,000. No decision has been made to relocate the seat of government. South Africa is demarcated into nine provinces, consisting of the Gauteng, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, North West, KwaZulu/Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape, and Free State. Each province has its own capital.
Other large cities: Johannesburg includes Ekurhuleni, 10.110 million; Durban, 3.199 million; Port Elizabeth, 1.281 million; West Rand, 909,000 (2022).
Monetary unit: Rand
Languages: isiZulu (official) 25.3%, isiXhosa (official) 14.8%, Afrikaans (official) 12.2%, Sepedi (official) 10.1%, Setswana (official) 9.1%, English (official) 8.1%, Sesotho (official) 7.9%, Xitsonga (official) 3.6%, siSwati (official) 2.8%, Tshivenda (official) 2.5%, isiNdebele (official) 1.6%, other (includes Khoi, Nama, and San languages) 2%; note – data represent language spoken most often at home (2018 est.)
Ethnicity/race: Black African 80.9%, Colored 8.8%, White 7.8%, Indian/Asian 2.6% (2021 est.)
Religions: Christian 86%, ancestral, tribal, animist, or other traditional African religions 5.4%, Muslim 1.9%, other 1.5%, nothing in particular 5.2% (2015 est.)
GDP/PPP