Population 42,834,520 (July 1998 est.)
note: South Africa took a census 10 October 1996 which showed a total of 37,859,000 (after a 6.8% adjustment for underenumeration based on a post-enumeration survey); this figure is still about 10% below projections from earlier censuses; since the full results of the census have not been released for analysis, the numbers shown for South Africa do not take into consideration the results of this 1996 census

Age structure
0-14 years: 35% (male 7,502,396; female 7,366,144)
15-64 years: 61% (male 12,947,521; female 13,079,892)
65 years and over: 4% (male 778,767; female 1,159,800) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate 1.42% (1998 est.)

Birth rate 26.43 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate 12.28 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate 0.08 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate 52.04 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
total population: 55.65 years
male: 53.56 years
female: 57.8 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate 3.16 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality
noun: South African(s)
adjective: South African

Ethnic groups black 75.2%, white 13.6%, Colored 8.6%, Indian 2.6%

Religions Christian 68% (includes most whites and Coloreds, about 60% of blacks and about 40% of Indians), Muslim 2%, Hindu 1.5% (60% of Indians), traditional and animistic 28.5%

Languages 11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu

Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 81.8%
male: 81.9%
female: 81.7% (1995 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding South Africa on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of South Africa People 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about South Africa People 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.