SA’s population grows by almost two-million in two years
Image: 123RF/RAW PIXEL
There are about 59.62-million people living in SA, an increase of 1.89-million from two years ago, Stats SA revealed on Thursday.
The majority of the population is female and accounts for 51.1%, about 30.5-million.
The findings in the 2020 midyear population estimates reveal that Gauteng remains the country’s most populous province, with about 15.5-million, accounting for 26% of the country’s total population.
It is followed by KwaZulu-Natal with an estimated 11.5-million people (19,3%).
The Northern Cape remains the province with the smallest share of the population with about 1.29-million people (2.2%).
The survey also found that about 28.6% of the population was younger than 15.
The majority of these live in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The elderly population, those aged 60 and above, constitute about 5.4-million, or 9.1%.
Of the elderly, the highest percentage, 24.1% (1.31-million), live in Gauteng.
Stats SA said the proportion of people aged 60 and older was increasing over time.
Some of the key findings of the report are:
- Migration is an important demographic process as it shapes the age structure and distribution of the provincial population. For the period 2016-2021, Gauteng and the Western Cape are estimated to experience the largest inflow of migrants, of about 1,553,162 and 468,568 respectively;
- Life expectancy at birth for 2020 is estimated at 62.5 years for males and 68.5 years for females;
- The infant mortality rate for 2020 is estimated at 23.6 for every 1,000 live births; and
- The estimated overall HIV prevalence rate is about 13% in SA. The total number of people living with HIV is estimated at about 7.8-million. For adults aged 15-49 years, an estimated 18.7% of the population is HIV-positive. — TimesSELECT