South Africa
Population 2026
65,453,083
Overview
- Yearly change
- +1.09%
- Density
- 54 per km²
- Land area
- 1,213,090 km²
- Capital
- Pretoria
- Currency
- Rand (ZAR)
- Official languages
- ZU, XH, AF, NSO
- Urban population
- 63.8%
- Continent
- AF
Demographics
- Births
- 1,167,8032026
- Deaths
- 609,6232026
- Birth rate
- 18.5per 1,000
- Death rate
- 9.2per 1,000
- Fertility rate
- 2.21
- Life expectancy
- 66.3At birth, years
- Median age
- 28.9
- Net migration
- 146,370
Age distribution
- 0–1425.7%
- 15–6467.4%
- 65+6.9%
Population by year
Economy
- GDP
- $427B
- GDP per capita
- $6.6K
- GDP growth
- +1.1%
- Inflation
- 3.2%
- Unemployment
- 32.4%
- Exports
- $134B
- Imports
- $126B
- Tourism receipts
- 2.9%% of exports
Economic output by sector (% of GDP)
- Agriculture2.8%
- Industry24.1%
- Manufacturing12.3%
- Services63.1%
Employment by sector (%)
- Agriculture5.4%
- Industry20.8%
- Services73.8%
Largest cities
| # | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | JohannesburgGauteng | 9,418,1832026 |
| 2 | Cape TownWestern Cape | 4,772,8462026 |
| 3 | DurbanKwaZulu-Natal | 3,338,0262025 |
| 4 | PretoriaGauteng | 2,112,6932024 |
| 5 | SowetoGauteng | 1,695,0472012 |
| 6 | GqeberhaEastern Cape | 1,050,0782025 |
| 7 | SoshanguveGauteng | 872,3092026 |
| 8 | PietermaritzburgKwaZulu-Natal | 839,3272026 |
| 9 | EvatonGauteng | 725,4682026 |
| 10 | BenoniGauteng | 605,3442012 |
Populated place as listed by GeoNames. Not a metropolitan-area figure.
Historical statistics
| Year | Population | Births | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 65,453,083 | 1.2M | 610K |
| 2020 | 60,562,374 | 1.2M | 586K |
| 2010 | 52,344,047 | 1.2M | 594K |
| 2000 | 47,159,715 | 1.0M | 490K |
| 1990 | 40,746,274 | 1.2M | 335K |
| 1980 | 29,518,857 | 1.0M | 285K |
| 1970 | 22,279,990 | 877K | 272K |
| 1960 | 16,440,175 | 655K | 233K |
| 1950 | 13,038,501 | 534K | 281K |