South Africa 



Facts
Population:
43,586,097
note:
South Africa took a census October 1996 which 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 2001 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years:
32.01% (male 7,023,639; female 6,928,559)
15-64 years:
63.11% (male 13,264,654; female 14,244,484)
65 years and over:
4.88% (male 798,914; female 1,325,847) (2001 est.)
Population growth rate:
0.26% (2001 est.)
Birth rate:
21.12 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Death rate:
16.77 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Net migration rate:
-1.73 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth:
1.02 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.01 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.6 male(s)/female
total population:
0.94 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
60.33 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
48.09 years
male:
47.64 years
female:
48.56 years (2001 est.)
Total fertility rate:
2.43 children born/woman (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
19.94% (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
4.2 million (1999 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths:
250,000 (1999 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:
81.8%
male:
81.9%
female:
81.7% (1995 est.)
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $369 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
3% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $8,500 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture:
5%
industry:
30%
services:
65% (1999 est.)
Population below poverty line:
50% (2000 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%:
1.1%
highest 10%:
45.9% (1994)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
5.3% (2000 est.)
Labor force:
17 million economically active (2000)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 30%, industry 25%, services 45% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate:
30% (2000 est.)
Budget:
revenues:
$31.1 billion
expenditures:
$34.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA billion (FY01/02)
Industries:
mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs
Industrial production growth rate:
2.4% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production:
186.903 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel:
92.74%
hydro:
0.39%
nuclear:
6.87%
other:
0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption:
172.393 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - exports:
3.884 billion kWh (1999)
Electricity - imports:
2.457 billion kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products:
corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products
Exports:
$30.8 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities:
gold, diamonds, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment
Exports - partners:
UK, Italy, Japan, US, Germany
Imports:
$27.6 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities:
machinery, foodstuffs and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments
Imports - partners:
Germany, US, UK, Japan
Debt - external:
$25.6 billion (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
$676.3 million
Currency:
rand (ZAR)
Currency code:
ZAR
Exchange rates:
rand per US dollar - 7.60 (March 2001), 6.93983 (2000), 6.10948 (1999), 5.52828 (1998), 4.60796 (1997), 4.29935 (1996)
Fiscal year:
1 April - 31 March
Statistics: CIA World Factbook.
Press
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Displaying 8 to 14 of 44 items.
(Liberal), Cape Town
http://www.capetimes.co.za/
(Daily newspaper), Johannesburg
http://www.citizen.co.za/
City Press
(Black community-oriented), Johannesburg
Computer Week
(Weekly information technology newspaper), Johannesburg
(Liberal), East London
http://www.dispatch.co.za/
(Liberal), Durban
http://www.dailynews.co.za/
Die Afrikaner
(Right-wing Afrikaans-language weekly), Pretoria
South Africa in the News
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Displaying 1 to 4 of 30 items.
Worldpress.org reviews comment and analysis about the ascension of Jacob Zuma in the A.N.C electoral victory.
The drug trade is fast turning large parts of West Africa into areas that are all but ungovernable, with major implications for international security.
The backlog of applications for refugee status dates back to the late 1990's, when people from troubled African countries became attracted to South Africa after its transition to democracy.
Many left-leaning ideologues have responded to the spectacles of mass arson ongoing in the "townships" of Gauteng and elsewhere in South Africa with characteristic ambiguity.