South Africa Population 

South Africa Population

• Based on current projections,  Chart Title

South Africa’s population will 90000000

continue to grow until 2082, 80000000 2080; 80000000

2060; 78200000

reaching just over 80 million 70000000 2040; 71400000

people before plateauing and

60000000 2020; 59300000

POPULATION
50000000
slightly declining the rest of the 40000000
2000; 45000000

century. South Africa’s 30000000 1980; 28600000

population growth rate is 20000000
1960; 17100000

currently 1.28% per year. 10000000

0
1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080

YEAR
• South Africa’s birth rate is 19.995 births
per 1,000 people and its death rate is
9.3 deaths per 1,000 people. The birth
rate is more than double the death rate
in South Africa. Additionally, the
fertility rate is 2.372 births per woman,
well above the population replacement
rate of 2.1 births per woman. While the
birth and fertility rates are both high,
they have each decreased annually,
indicating the slowing of South Africa’s
population growth.
South Africa Population Growth

• The 2011 Census was carried out in October of

2011 and showed that the population had climbed to
over 50.5 million people. That represents a rise of
nearly six million people over the course of the
previous ten years.
• So what are the reasons for this increase? The
question of immigration raises a contrasting set of
views. The South African Migration Project has
claimed that the country is more opposed to
immigrants than anywhere else in the world.
However, in 2008 it was revealed that over 200,000
refugees applied for asylum in South Africa, more
than four times the number declared the year
before.
• Elsewhere, South Africa is also concerned about a
skills drain which has seen many professionals,
particularly those in the medical sphere, leave the
country and seek a career elsewhere.