Facts and Statistics About The Peoples of South Africa;; The Rainbow Nation
Background: After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Boers resisted British encroachments, but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902). The resulting Union of South Africa operated under a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. The 1990s brought an end to apartheid politically and ushered in black majority rule.
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People South Africa ... Population: 42,718,530 note: South Africa took a census October 1996 that showed a population of 40,583,611 (after an official adjustment for a 6.8% underenumeration based on a postenumeration survey); estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2004 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 29.5% (male 6,337,468; female 6,254,925)
15-64 years: 65.3% (male 13,898,269; female 14,017,559)
65 years and over: 5.2% (male 886,801; female 1,323,508) (2004 est.)
Median age: total: 24.7 years
male: 24.2 years
female: 25.3 years (2004 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.25% (2004 est.)
Birth rate: 18.38 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Death rate: 20.54 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.29 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.02 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
Infant mortality rate: total: 62.18 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 58.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 65.87 deaths/1,000 live births
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 44.19 years
male: 44.39 years
female: 43.98 years (2004 est.)
Total fertility rate: 2.18 children born/woman (2004 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 21.5% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 5.3 million (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 370,000 (2003 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), indigenous beliefs and animist 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: 86.4%
male: 87%
female: 85.7% (2003 est.)
source http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/sf.html
