Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke.
- It is estimated that South Africa’s population currently stands at 59.62 million.
- Gauteng is the most populated province, accounting for 26% of the total population.
- Approximately 51.1% of the population is female.
It is estimated that South Africa’s population currently stands at 59.62 million, with Gauteng the most populated province, accounting for 26% of the population.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke released the Mid-Year Population Estimates (MYPE) for 2020, which looked at different statistical sets between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020.
The total population is estimated to have grown by around 0.8 million in the last year.
Provincial breakdown of population
According to the report, it’s estimated that 15.5 million people live in Gauteng, making it the most populated province.
Gauteng is followed by KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) with 11.53 million people, the Western Cape with a population of 7.01 million and the Eastern Cape, where 6.73 million people live on a permanent basis.
Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape account for 57.1% of the country’s population.
The least populated province remains the Northern Cape, which accounts for just 2.2% of the total population with 1.29 million people.
Gauteng has seen an increase in population of 13.4% due to the migration of people from other provinces.
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The Western Cape has seen a population increase of 9.8% due to migration, while North West recorded an increase of 8.9%. The population of Mpumalanga has grown by 8%.
Statistics SA used the provincial migration rates of the 2011 census and applied them to the population current of the year and then aggregated the figures over a five-year period.
For the 2020 figures, there was an adjustment made for the report because of the Covid-19 lockdown. The assumptions of the net migration, internal migration and international migration were decreased.
Population structure
According to the report, around 17 million people in the country are below the age of 14 which accounts for 28.6% of the total population.
Around 20.7 million people are aged between 15 and 34 (34.7% of the population), 16.5 million people are between the ages of 35 of 59 (27.6%) while the elderly, defined as 60 and older, account for 9.1% of the population with 5.4 million people.
It is estimated that the youth age group (15 to 34 years old) has increased by 4.2 million between 2002 and 2020.
Maluleke also noted that South Africa is aging, with the median age in the country rising from 23 years old in 2002 to 27 in 2020.
Approximately 51.1% (30.5 million) of the population is female.
According to the latest MYPE:
- Black people account for 81% of the population at 48.2 million people
- Coloured people account for 9% with 5.2 million people
- White people make up 8% of the population with 4.7 million people
- The Indian/Asian population accounts for 3% with 1.5 million people
The presentation noted that due to figures being rounded up, the totals may not add up to 100% exactly.
