SA’s population grows by almost two-million in two years

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