Map of South Africa | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

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Background: After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806 many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Boers resisted British encroachments but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902). The resulting Union of South Africa operated under a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. The 1990s brought an end to apartheid politically and ushered in black majority rule.


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Location: Southern Africa at the southern tip of the continent of Africa

Geographic coordinates: 29 00 S 24 00 E

Map reference: Africa

Area
Comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Texas

Land boundaries

Coastline: 2,798 km

Maritime claims

Climate: mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days cool nights

Terrain: vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain

Elevation

Natural resources: gold chromium antimony coal iron ore manganese nickel phosphates tin uranium gem diamonds platinum copper vanadium salt natural gas

Land use

Irrigated land: 12,700 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: prolonged droughts

Geography
Note: South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland


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Population: 43,421,021
Growth rate: 0.5% (2000 est.)
Below poverty line: NA%

Nationality

Ethnic groups: black 75.2% white 13.6% Colored 8.6% Indian 2.6%

Languages: 11 official languages including Afrikaans English Ndebele Pedi Sotho Swazi Tsonga Tswana Venda Xhosa Zulu

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%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: 0.5% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 24.56 births/1000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 14.69 deaths/1000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.9 migrant(s)/1000 population (2000 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures; growth in water usage threatens to outpace supply; pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge; air pollution resulting in acid rain; soil erosion; desertification

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 58.88 deaths/1000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate: 2.47 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name

Government type: republic

Capital: Pretoria; note - Cape Town is the legislative center and Bloemfontein the judicial center

Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Mpumalanga North-West Northern Cape Northern Province Western Cape

Dependent areas

Independence: 31 May 1910 (from UK)

National holiday: Freedom Day 27 April (1994)

Constitution: 10 December 1996; this new constitution was certified by the Constitutional Court on 4 December 1996 was signed by then President MANDELA on 10 December 1996 and entered into effect on 3 February 1997; it is being implemented in phases

Legal system: based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch

Legislative branch: bicameral parliament consisting of the National Assembly (400 seats; members are elected by popular vote under a system of proportional representation to serve five-year terms) and the National Council of Provinces (90 seats 10 members elected by each of the nine provincial legislatures for five-year terms; has special powers to protect regional interests including the safeguarding of cultural and linguistic traditions among ethnic minorities); note - following the implementation of the new constitution on 3 February 1997 the former Senate was disbanded and replaced by the National Council of Provinces with essentially no change in membership and party affiliations although the new institution's responsibilities have been changed somewhat by the new constitution

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court; Supreme Court of Appeals; High Courts; Magistrate Courts

Political parties and leaders: African Christian Democratic Party or ACDP [Kenneth MESHOE president]; African National Congress or ANC [Thabo MBEKI president]; Democratic Party or DP [Tony LEON president]; Freedom Front or FF [Constand VILJOEN president]; Inkatha Freedom Party or IFP [Mangosuthu BUTHELEZI president]; National Party (now the New National Party) or NP [Marthinus VAN SCHALKWYK executive director]; Pan-Africanist Congress or PAC [Stanley MOGOBA president]; United Democratic Movement or UDM [Bantu HOLOMISA]

International organization participation: ACP AfDB BIS C CCC ECA FAO G-77 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC ICFTU ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM ISO ITU MONUC NAM NSG OAU OPCW PCA SACU SADC UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNITAR UPU WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO ZC

Diplomatic representation

Flag description: two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal Y the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side; the Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: South Africa is a middle-income developing country with an abundant supply of resources well-developed financial legal communications energy and transport sectors a stock exchange that ranks among the 10 largest in the world and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. However growth has not been strong enough to cut into the 30% unemployment and daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era especially the problems of poverty and lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups. Other problems are crime corruption and HIV/AIDS. At the start of 2000 President MBEKI vowed to promote economic growth and foreign investment by relaxing restrictive labor laws stepping up the pace of privatization and cutting unneeded governmental spending. His policies face strong opposition from organized labor.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 0.6% (1999 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,900 (1999 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: corn wheat sugarcane fruits vegetables; beef poultry mutton wool dairy products

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: -5% (1998 est.)

Labor force: 15 million economically active (1997)
By occupation agriculture: 30%
By occupation industry: 25%
By occupation services: 45% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate: 30% (1999 est.)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: NA%

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March

Inflation rate consumer prices: 5.5% (1999 est.)

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $28 billion (f.o.b. 1999 est.)
Commodities: gold diamonds other metals and minerals machinery and equipment
Partners: UK Italy Japan US Germany (1997)

Imports: $26 billion (f.o.b. 1999 est.)
Commodities: machinery foodstuffs and equipment chemicals petroleum products scientific instruments
Partners: Germany US UK Japan

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $25.7 billion (1998 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: rand (R) per US$1 - 6.12439 (January 2000) 6.10948 (1999) 5.52828 (1998) 4.60796 (1997) 4.29935 (1996) 3.62709 (1995)


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Electricity
Production: 192.015 billion kWh (1998)
Consumption: 174.486 billion kWh (1998)
Exports: 4.093 billion kWh (1998)
Imports: 5 million kWh (1998)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 5.075 million (1999)
Mobile cellular: over 2,000,000 (1999)

Telephone system: the system is the best developed and most modern in Africa

Broadcast media

Internet
Service providers isps: 58 (1999)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $2 billion (FY99/00)
Percent of gdp: 1.5% (FY99/00)

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 744 (1999 est.)

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 931 km; petroleum products 1748 km; natural gas 322 km

Railways

Roadways

Waterways

Merchant marine

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: Swaziland has asked South Africa to open negotiations on reincorporating some nearby South African territories that are populated by ethnic Swazis or that were long ago part of the Swazi Kingdom

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: transshipment center for heroin and cocaine; cocaine consumption on the rise; world's largest market for illicit methaqualone usually imported illegally from India through various east African countries; illicit cultivation of marijuana