South Africa is the sixth African country with the largest population, counting approximately 60.5 million individuals as of 2021. In 2023, the largest city in South Africa was Cape Town. The capital of Western Cape counted 3.4 million inhabitants, whereas South Africa's second largest city was Durban (eThekwini Municipality), with 3.1 million inhabitants. Note that when observing the number of inhabitants by municipality, Johannesburg is counted as largest city/municipality of South Africa.

From four provinces to nine provinces

Before Nelson Mandela became president in 1994, the country had four provinces, Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal and 10 “homelands” (also called Bantustans). The four larger regions were for the white population while the homelands for its black population. This system was dismantled following the new constitution of South Africa in 1996 and reorganized into nine provinces. Currently, Gauteng is the most populated province with around 15.9 million people residing there, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 11.68 million inhabiting the province. As of 2022, Black African individuals were almost 81 percent of the total population in the country, while colored citizens followed amounting to around 5.34 million.

A diverse population

Although the majority of South Africans are identified as Black, the country’s population is far from homogenous, with different ethnic groups usually residing in the different “homelands”. This can be recognizable through the various languages used to communicate between the household members and externally. IsiZulu was the most common language of the nation with around a quarter of the population using it in- and outside of households. IsiXhosa and Afrikaans ranked second and third with roughly 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Population in largest city in South Africa was reported at 6324351 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. South Africa - Population in largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Lagos, in Nigeria, ranked as the most populated city in Africa as of 2024, with an estimated population of roughly nine million inhabitants living in the city proper. Kinshasa, in Congo, and Cairo, in Egypt, followed with some 7.8 million and 7.7 million dwellers. Among the 15 largest cities in the continent, another two, Kano, and Ibadan, were located in Nigeria, the most populated country in Africa. Population density trends in Africa As of 2022, Africa exhibited a population density of 48.3 individuals per square kilometer. At the beginning of 2000, the population density across the continent has experienced a consistent annual increment. Projections indicated that the average population residing within each square kilometer would rise to approximately 54 by the year 2027. Moreover, Mauritius stood out as the African nation with the most elevated population density, exceeding 640 individuals per square kilometre. Mauritius possesses one of the most compact territories on the continent, a factor that significantly influences its high population density. Urbanization dynamics in Africa The urbanization rate in Africa was anticipated to reach close to 44 percent in 2021. Urbanization across the continent has consistently risen since 2000, with urban areas accommodating 35 percent of the total population. This trajectory is projected to continue its ascent in the years ahead. Nevertheless, the distribution between rural and urban populations shows remarkable diversity throughout the continent. In 2021, Gabon and Libya stood out as Africa’s most urbanized nations, each surpassing 80 percent urbanization. In 2023, Africa's population was estimated to expand by 2.35 percent compared to the preceding year. Since 2000, the population growth rate across the continent has consistently exceeded 2.45 percent, reaching its pinnacle at 2.59 percent between 2012 and 2013. Although the growth rate has experienced a deceleration, Africa's population will persistently grow significantly in the forthcoming years.

This dataset is about cities in South Africa. It has 198 rows. It features 3 columns: country, and population.

South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City data was reported at 9,822,625.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 9,615,976.000 Person for 2016. South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 3,628,124.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9,822,625.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 2,136,849.000 Person in 1960. South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 26.327 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 26.291 % for 2016. South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 23.218 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 26.327 % in 2017 and a record low of 18.806 % in 1991. South Africa ZA: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted Average;

Population in the largest city (% of urban population) in South Africa was reported at 14.26 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. South Africa - Population in the largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

In 2024, Pietermaritzburg (South Africa) ranked first in the crime index among African cities, with a rating of roughly ** index points. The six most dangerous areas on the continent were South African cities. The index estimates the overall level of crime in a specific territory. According to the score, crime levels are classified as very high (over 80), high (60-80), moderate (40-60), low (20-40), and very low (below 20). South Africa’s crime situation According to the crime index ranking, ************ was the most dangerous country in Africa in 2023, followed by ***************** and ******. Murder and organized crime are particularly widespread in South Africa. In 2023, the country had one of the highest murder rates globally, registering around ** homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. Moreover, South Africa’s crime scene is also characterized by the presence of organized criminal activities, for which the country ranked third in Africa. Reflecting these high levels of crime, a survey conducted in 2023 showed that around ** percent of South Africans were worried about crime and violence in the country. Crime risks in Africa The African continent hosts some of the most dangerous places worldwide. In 2023, *********** and the ******************************** were the least peaceful countries in Africa, according to the Global Peace Index. Worldwide, they ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, behind Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria. Terrorism is a leading type of crime perpetrated in Africa. Home to Boko Aram, Nigeria is among the countries with the highest number of terrorism-related deaths globally. Furthermore, Burkina Faso had the highest number of fatalities in the world. Human trafficking is also widespread, predominantly in West Africa. The most common forms of exploitation of victims of trafficking in persons are forced labor and sexual exploitation.

Johannesburg was the wealthiest city in Africa as of 2021. South Africa's biggest city held 239 billion U.S. dollars in private wealth, while Cape Town followed with 131 billion U.S. dollars. The country led the ranking of wealthiest nations in Africa. The wealth value referred to assets such as cash, properties, and business interests held by individuals living in each country, less liabilities. Moreover, government funds were excluded.

This horizontal bar chart displays GDP (current US$) by capital city using the aggregation sum in South Africa. The data is about countries per year.

Abstract

This study covers Cape Town, one of four African cities surved between 2013 and 2019 by the African Center for Cities. The African Center for cities is based at the University of Cape Town and is a partner of the Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP).

The HCP studies include household data on food insecurity, household food purchasing dynamics, nutritional discounting taking place in households, foods consumed and multidimensional measures of poverty. The household data is complimented with household member data and food retailer (vendor) data, including infomation on vendor employees.

The Hungry Cities Partnership is an international network of cities and city-based partner organizations which focuses on the relationships between rapid urbanization, informality, inclusive growth and urban food systems in the Global South.

Geographic coverage

The household sample is deisgned to be representative of the city of Cape Town.

Analysis unit

Households and individuals

Universe

Households and Vendors in Cape Town.

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Sampling procedure

Household sampling: the sample for the 2013 Food Security Study was designed to be two-stage and stratified, using a random probability sample of 2,500 Cape Town households .Enumeration areas were taken from Statistics SAs master lists and used as the primary sampling unit. Households were the secondard sampling unit. Strafitication was done by income group of the household. Some areas were over-sampled to improve accuracy. In each of the drawn EAs, six households were systematically selected, with the exception of the EAs in DuNoon (where 10 households were systematically selected). Starting points were allocated to ensure coverage of the entire EA. The household was defined by everyone who regularly "ate from the same pot".

Vendor sampling: The survey team documentation reads as follows: A strategy of maximum variation sampling was used to ensure a mix of commercial, formal residential, informal residential, mixed formal and informal residential, and industrial retail sites. In these areas, the main street served as the primary site of research. Informal food vending businesses were selected randomly. In total, 1,018 food vendors were interviewed over a three-week period.

For more on sampling see the study documentation.

Sampling deviation

In cases, xenophobic violence made vendor interviews dangerous in some areas.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

There are two questionnaires per city, a household questionnaire and a vendor questionnaire. The household questionnaire has a subsection for household members (persons), and the vendor quesitonnaire has a subsection for employees. Answers to these subsections are supplied in separete datafiles, which can be matched to (merged with) the questoinnaire as necessary.

Vendor surveys were administered to the person directly responsible for the running of the business using handheld tablets. The household survey was administered to a senior adult member of the household, someone who could speak for the household.

Note that for the household questionnaire, the question 8 section changed slightly for Cape Town, in that the answers are not stored in 'wide' format like the other cities. Rather, if a respondent provided more than one answer, additional variables were created. This is why the dataset has less variables and the question 8 section looks different. Only up to three locations were recorded in section 8, even if the repondent mentioned more than 3 sources of food.

Cleaning operations

Datafiles were received by DataFirst in SPSS (.sav) and Excel (.xlsx) format. Variables had to be named and variable labels were taken from question text. Variables were named accoriding to question number and subject matter, in a hierachical fasion.

An effort was made to keep question numbers consistent across cities where the same questions were asked for the 2013-2019 surveys. For the vendor data, Cape Town, Maputo and Nairobi had almost identical questionnaires and so the question numbers were naturally the same across these cities (harmonized). For the household data, Maputo, Nairobi and Windhoek were similar and could be harmonized. This means users could try stack these datafiles. The Cape Town household questionnaire was more different to the others, and variable names would required adjusting to match with the other cities.

Missing values of 97, 98, and 99 were converted to -97, -98 and -99. There were some question numbers wrong in the vendor data questionnaires (typos) that were corrected.

Data appraisal

It seems that there is slight mismatch between the Cape Town household questionnaire provided and the lists in the datafile, for an example see the question 15 income sources.

In the Cape Town household data, data was not collected for the quetion 10.c and 10.d, about crops and time to travel to crops.

In general, the lists change subtly between cities, for example the lists of foods in question 8 of the household data. As such the user should take caution when comparing across cities, and refer to the questionnaires. When the lists differed, list item letters (a-z) were left in the variable name as a second way for the user to check that the data match the questionnaire in the expected way. In Cape Town an answer to questions 15a and b "support from relatives" was captured although it does not reflect in the questionnaire.

Abstract

The World Values Survey aims to attain a broad understanding of socio-political trends (i.e. perceptions, behaviour and expectations) among adults across the world.

Geographic coverage

National The sample was distributed as follows: 60% metropolitan (large cities with populations of 250 000+); 40% non-metropolitan (including cities, large towns, small towns, villages and rural areas)

Analysis unit

Individual

Universe

The sample included adults 16 years+ in South Africa

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The sample had to be representative of urban as well as rural populations. Roughly the distribution was as follows: - South Africa: 60% metropolitan (large cities with populations of 250 000+); 40% non-metropolitan (including cities, large towns, small towns, villages and rural areas).

A standard form of sampling instructions was sent to each agency to ensure uniformity in the sampling procedure. Markinor stratified the samples for each country by region, sex and community size. To this end, statistics and figures that were supplied to us by the agencies were used. However, we requested the agencies to revise these where necessary or where alternatives would be more effective. The agencies then supplied the street names for the urban starting points, and made suggestions for sampling procedures in rural areas where neither maps nor street names were available. From sample-point level, the respondent selection was done randomly according to a selection grid used by Markinor (the first two pages of the master questionnaire).

Substitution was permitted after three unsuccessful calls. Six interviews were conducted at each sample point. The male/female split was 50/50. The urban sample included all community sizes greater than 500 and the rural sample all community sizes less than 500. This is the definition of urban and rural used in South Africa.

Remarks about sampling: -Final numbers of clusters or sampling points: 500 -Sample unit from office sampling: Street Names

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The WVS questionnaire was translated from the English questionnaire by a specialist translator The translated questionnaire was pre-tested. The pre-tests were part of the general pilots. In total 20 pilots were conducted. The English questionnaire from the University of Michigan was used to make the WVS. Extra questions were added at the end of the questionnaire. Also, country specific questions were included at the end of the questionnaire, just before the demographics.The sample was designed to be representative of the entire adult population, i.e. 18 years and older, of your country. The lower age cut-off for the sample was 16 and there was not any upper age cut-off for the sample.

Cleaning operations

Some measures of coding reliability were employed. Each questionnaire is coded against the coding frame. A minimum of 10% of each coders work is checked to ensure consistency in interpretation. If any discrepancies in interpretation are World Values Survey (1999-2004) - South Africa 2001 v.2015.04.18 discovered, a 100% check is carried out on that particular coders work. Errors were corrected individually and automatically.

Sampling error estimates

The error margins for this survey can be calculated by taking the following factors into account: - all samples were random (as opposed to quota-controlled) - the sample size per country (or segment being analysed) - the substitution rate per country (or segment being analysed) - the rates were recorded on CARD 1; col. 805 of the questionnaire. From the substitution rate, the response rate can be calculated.

As of 2023, South Africa's population increased and counted approximately 62.3 million inhabitants in total, of which the majority inhabited Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Western-Eastern Cape. Gauteng (includes Johannesburg) is the smallest province in South Africa, though highly urbanized with a population of over 16 million people according to the estimates. Cape Town, on the other hand, is the largest city in South Africa with nearly 3.43 million inhabitants in the same year, whereas Durban counted 3.12 million citizens. However, looking at cities including municipalities, Johannesburg ranks first. High rate of young population South Africa has a substantial population of young people. In 2024, approximately 34.3 percent of the people were aged 19 years or younger. Those aged 60 or older, on the other hand, made-up over 10 percent of the total population. Distributing South African citizens by marital status, approximately half of the males and females were classified as single in 2021. Furthermore, 29.1 percent of the men were registered as married, whereas nearly 27 percent of the women walked down the aisle. Youth unemployment Youth unemployment fluctuated heavily between 2003 and 2022. In 2003, the unemployment rate stood at 36 percent, followed by a significant increase to 45.5 percent in 2010. However, it fluctuated again and as of 2022, over 51 percent of the youth were registered as unemployed. Furthermore, based on a survey conducted on the worries of South Africans, some 64 percent reported being worried about employment and the job market situation.

This dataset is about cities in Southern Africa. It has 334 rows. It features one column called city.

South Africa is the southernmost country in Africa. It covers an area of 1,221,037 square kilometres (471,445 square miles). South Africa has three capital cities: executive Pretoria, judicial Bloemfontein and legislative Cape Town. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of South Africans are of Black African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European (White South Africans), Asian (Indian South Africans and Chinese South Africans), and Multiracial (Coloured South Africans) ancestry.

Source: Objaverse 1.0 / Sketchfab

In 2023, according to data provided by StartupBlink, the best city for startups in South Africa was Cape Town, with a total score of 5.19. The city ranked 136th worldwide in that year. Other leading cities for startup activities in South Africa were Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Durban.

The African Cities Population Database (ACPD) has been produced by the Birkbeck College of the University of London in 1990 at the request of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya. The database contains head counts for 479 cities in Africa which either have a population of over 20,000 or are capitals of their nation state. Listed are the geographical location of the cities and their population sizes. The material is primarily derived from a 1988 report of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and several issues of the United Nations Demographic Yearbook (1973-81). Severe problems were found with several countries such as Togo, Ghana and South Africa. For South Africa, the data were derived from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook 1987.

WCPD is an Arc/Info point coverage. It has no projection, as the cities are located on the basis of their latitude and longitude. Coordinates were assigned on the basis of gazetteers or African maps. Each record in the data base contains details of the city name, country name, latitude and longitude of the city, and its population at a defined time. The Arc/Info attribute table contains the following fields:

AREA Arc/Info item PERIMETER Arc/Info item ACPD# Arc/Info item ACPD-ID Arc/Info item ID-NUM Unique number for each city CITY City name COUNTRY Country name CITY-POP Population of city proper YEAR Latest available year of collection

ACPD comes as an Arc/Info EXPORT file originally called "ACPD.E00" and contains 67 Kb of data. The file has a record length of 80 and a block size of 8000 (blocking factor = 100). The file can be read from tape using Arc/Info's TAPEREAD command or any other generic copy utility. If distributed on a diskette it can be read using the ordinary DOS 'COPY' command. The file has to be converted to Arc/Info internal format using its IMPORT command.

References to the WCPD data set can be found in:

• SERLL News, Issue No. 1, January 1991, Birkbeck College, London, UK.
• D. Rhind. "Cartographically-related research at Birkbeck College 1987-91" in: The Cartographic Journal, Vol. 28, June 1991, pp. 63-66.

The source of the WCPD data set as held by GRID is Birkbeck College, University of London, Department of Geography, London, UK.

Abstract

The Measuring Living Standards in Cities (MLSC) survey is a new instrument designed to enhance understanding of cities in Africa and support evidence based policy design. The instrument was developed under the World Bank's Spatial Development of African Cities Program, and was piloted in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Durban (South Africa) over the course of 2014/15.

Geographic coverage

The survey covered households in Durban, South Africa.

Analysis unit

• Household
• Individual

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The total nominal sample of 2400 households in Durban was, selected in four stages rather than two. These were: (i) selection of 200 EAs with probability proportional to size; (ii) large EAs were segmented into area units of roughly the same size (using GIS data), and one segments was selected randomly with equal probability; (iii) following listing of buildings, 15 were selected using systematic equal probability sampling; (iv) households in the 15 selected buildings were listed so that 12 households could then be selected per EA by systematic equal probability sampling. This approach reduced the need to enter as many buildings as would otherwise have been necessary, without reducing the representativeness of the sample.

For further details on sampling strategy, see Survey Methodology section of World Measuring Living Standards within Cities report.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]

Response rate

The refusal and non-completion rate was 41 percent.

Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Cape Town, South Africa metro area from 1950 to 2025.

Abstract

The Cities of Integrity: Urban Planning and Corruption in Africa Project was based at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town. The Project ran from 2019-2021 as part of the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE), which supported 14 research partners around the world in generating actionable evidence to assist policymakers, practitioners, and advocates to design and implement more effective anti-corruption programmes. In collaboration with the Center for Urban Research and Planning at the University of Zambia, the Project conducted an online survey of planning and urban development professionals in South Africa and Zambia regarding their experience and perceptions of ethics, integrity, and corruption in their work and their profession.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers South Africa and Zambia.

Analysis unit

Individuals

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey was conducted with an online questionnaire using Google Forms.

Cleaning operations

Notes on data preparation by DataFirst are provided with the dataset.