Country profile:

location: The Republic of South Africa is a country

located at the southern tip of Africa, with a
2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) coastline on the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans. geographical location of South Africa
is 25 °43'S, 28°17'E and it lies in the southern
hemisphere. The area of South Africa is 1,219,912
sq km (471,011 sq mi). Comparatively, the area
occupied by South Africa is slightly less than twice
the size of the state of Texas. Considered as a whole,
South Africa extends 1,821 km (1,132 mi) NE–SW
and 1,066 km (662 mi) SE–NW.
The neighboring countries of South Africa: These
following countries and geo-political entities not
only share the boundaries of South Africa, but also
have deep rooted socio-cultural bonds.
Site country
North-west Namibia, Botswana and
Zimbabwe
North- east Mozambique and Swaziland
east Indian Ocean
west Atlantic Ocean
Wholly surrounded Lesotho (independent
nation)

Climate: South Africa has a generally temperate climate,

due in part to being surrounded by the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans on three sides, by its location in the
climatically milder southern hemisphere and due to the
average elevation rising steadily towards the north
(towards the equator) and further inland. Due to this
varied topography and oceanic influence, a great variety
of climatic zones exist.

minerals and resources:

Proven Natural Gas Reserves (Cedigaz 2009)
recoverable Coal 34 billion short tons (World
Reserves (2007) Energy Council)

Proven Oil Reserves (January 1, 15 million

2010) barrels

population growth: -0.31%.

density: 41/km (170th)

birth rate : 18.48 births/1,000 population.

Death rate:
crime rate: 0.05%.

aids provided.

 US gives Zambia $276m for HIV/Aids

 Drug can slash HIV-infection rate - study
 New Aids cases fall by one fifth - UN
 Africa welcomes pope's condom stance

Ethnicity and tribal group: South Africans represent a rich

array of ethnic backgrounds, but the idea of ethnicity
became highly explosive during the apartheid era, when
the government used it for political and racial purposes.
Apartheid doctrines taught that each black population
would eventually achieve maturity as a nation, just as the
Afrikaner people, in their own view, had done. Officials,
therefore, sometimes referred to the largest African
ethnic groups as nations.
Apartheid policies also empowered the government to
remove black Africans from cities and to preserve the
"ethnic character “of neighborhoods in the African
townships that were created, legally and illegally, around
the cities. Many township neighborhoods were given
specific "tribal" designations. Township residents
generally ignored these labels, however, and reacted to
the divisiveness of the government's racial policies by
minimizing the importance of their ethnic heritage, or
disavowing it entirely. A few South Africans embraced
the notion that ethnicity was an outdated concept, a
creation of governments and anthropologists, invoked
primarily to create divisions among people of a particular
class or region.

Apartheid policy:
Apartheid (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ɐˈpɐrtɦəit],
separateness) was a system of legal racial segregation
enforced by the National Party government in South
Africa between 1948 and 1994, under which the rights of
the majority 'non-white' inhabitants of South Africa were
curtailed and minority rule by white people was
maintained.

Group Percentage
Black 79.4
White 9.2
Coloured 8.8
Asian 2.6

Religions:

Name percentage
Zion Christian 11.1
Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2
Catholic 7.1
Methodist 6.8
Dutch Reformed 6.7
Anglican 3.8
Islam 1.5
Unspecified 1.4
None 15.1

Literacy:

Communication system: Tele communication

system
South Africa has an extensive GSM network,
working on the same frequency as the rest of
Africa and Europe. There are four cell phone
providers in South Africa: Vodacom, MTN, Cell-
C and Virgin Mobile. The networks support
GPRS countrywide and 3G, EDGE and HSDPA
support is available in larger urban areas.
Communication and media system
Telephones-main lines in 4.844 million
use
Telephones-mobile cellular 16.86 million
Radios 17 million
Televisions 6 million
Internet hosts 288,633
Internet service providers 150
Internet users 3.1 million
TV channels 7
Newspapers (popular) 5

Transportation system:

Railways 20,872 km
Highways 275,971 km
Merchant marine 2 ships
Airports 728
Sports: Soccer is the most popular Sport in South Africa,
and is very popular among South African blacks. South
Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first one
hosted in Africa. Other popular Sports include: Cricket
(which is the 2nd most popular Sport in South Africa),
Rugby union, Boxing, Hockey, Surfing, and Running.
South Africa was absent from international sport for
most of the apartheid era due to sanctions, but started
competing globally after the country's white electorate
voted in a referendum in favour of a negotiated
settlement of the apartheid question.