South Africa has 12 official languages and a multilingual population fluent in at least two. IsiZulu and isiXhosa are the largest languages. English is spoken at home by under 9% of the population, two-thirds of them not white.
South Africa is home to 63 million people. About 81.7% of them are black, 8.5% coloured, 2.6% Indian/Asian and 7.2% white. Find out more about birth, death, age, HIV, migration and other population trends.
South Africa has nine provinces, each with its own history, landscape, population, languages, economy, cities and government.
South Africa is a climate patchwork of warm coastal subtropics, hot deserts, humid highlands, snow-topped mountains and an enclave of Mediterranean weather in the southwest.
Where are South Africa’s poorest places? Two maps find the patterns of poverty: one shows the share of households living in poverty in each municipality, the other the number of poor people living there. And an animation tries to make sense of the maps.
Before South Africa became a democracy in 1994, apartheid divided the country into four large provinces for white people, and 10 small unsustainable “homelands” for black people.
The Free State’s complicated history has played out across its varied landscape, which runs from the Maloti Mountains in the east through flat central farmlands to the Karoo desert regions in the west and south.
In the Eastern Cape you’ll find the Wild Coast, the Valley of Desolation, the coastal cities of Gqeberha and East London, the visionary art of the Owl House of Nieu-Bethesda, Nelson Mandela’s birthplace in the Transkei, and more.
South Africa has nine provinces, which vary in size from the small city region of Gauteng – home to more than a quarter of the population – to the great Northern Cape, by far the largest province but with the smallest population.
Local government in the Eastern Cape is organised into eight major municipalities. Two are metropolitan, and the other six are district municipalities. The districts are further divided into 31 local municipalities.
Local government in the Free State is organised into five major municipalities. One is metropolitan, and the other four district municipalities. The districts are further divided into 19 local municipalities.
Local government in the city region of Gauteng is organised into five major municipalities. Three are metropolitan, and two are district municipalities. The districts are further divided into six local municipalities.
Local government in KwaZulu-Natal is organised into eight major municipalities. One is metropolitan, and the other 10 are district municipalities. The districts are further divided into 43 local municipalities.
Local government in Limpopo is organised into five district municipalities. The province also has 22 smaller local municipalities, each falling under one of the five district municipalities.
Local government in Mpumalanga is organised into three district municipalities. The province also has 17 smaller local municipalities, each falling under one of the district municipalities.
Local government in the Northern Cape is organised into five district municipalities. The province also has 26 smaller local municipalities, each falling under one of the five district municipalities.
Local government in North West is organised into four district municipalities. The province also has 18 smaller local municipalities, each falling under one of the four district municipalities.
Local government in the Western Cape is organised into six major municipalities. One is metropolitan, and five are district municipalities. The province also has 24 smaller local municipalities, each falling under one of the five districts.
Finance is the biggest industry in Gauteng and the Western Cape. Mining dominates in Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and the Northern Cape. KwaZulu-Natal’s major industry is manufacturing. In the Eastern Cape and Free State, it’s government services.
Gauteng, small but crowded, has an average of 785 people per square kilometre. The empty but enormous Northern Cape has a population density of only three people for each square kilometre.
South Africans migrate to where the jobs are. They move from poorer provinces to the richer ones, and from rural areas to the cities.
The population of each of South Africa’s nine provinces varies enormously. According to Statistics South Africa’s 2024 population estimates, the most populous provinces are Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, and the emptiest the Northern Cape and Free State.
Key facts on South Africa’s currency, time, geography, population, languages, provinces, government and education.
The South African Multidimensional Poverty Index looks at how poverty reveals itself in people’s health, their level of education, the dwelling they live in, how they cook their food, the water they drink …
The Eastern Cape is South Africa’s poorest province, both in its percentage of poor households and the number of its people who live in poverty. The province with the smallest share of households in poverty is the Western Cape.
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