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.

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.

Abstract

The information collected in household surveys, such as this one, is used to describe and understand the living conditions and experiences of South Africans. Often, however, different surveys use different sample areas and interview different households, making it difficult to know whether the living standards or circumstances of particular households have improved. The aim of this survey is to determine whether or not there have been any changes in the socio-economic conditions of those households interviewed in 1993. This information will be used to understand the dynamics of household behaviour over time.

Geographic coverage

The survey covered households in KwaZulu-Natal Province, on the east coast of South Africa

Analysis unit

Units of analysis in the Kwazulu Natal Income Dynamics Study 1993-1998 are households and individuals

Universe

The Kwazulu Natal Income Dynamics Study 1993-1998 covered all household members.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The 1993 sample was selected using a two-stage self-weighting design. In the first stage, clusters were chosen with probability proportional to size from census enumerator subdistricts (ESD) or approximate equivalents where an ESD was not available. In the second stage, all households in each chosen cluster were enumerated and a random sample of them selected. (See PSLSD, 1994, for further details.)

In 1993, the KwaZulu-Natal portion of the PSLSD sample was designed to be representative at the provincial level, conditional on the accuracy of the 1991 census and other information used for the sampling frame, and contained households of all races. It was decided not to re-survey the small number of white and coloured households in 1998, however. While there were minor advantages to retaining these groups, the relatively small number of households in each group (112 white households and 53 coloured) would have precluded most comparative ethnic analyses. Moreover, the households in these ethnic groups were entirely located in a small number of clusters (due to the general lack of spatial integration of the population), undermining their representativeness. As a result, the 1998 sample includes only African and Indian households.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

ObjectiveGlycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is recommended as an additional tool to glucose-based measures (fasting plasma glucose [FPG] and 2-hour plasma glucose [2PG] during oral glucose tolerance test [OGTT]) for the diagnosis of diabetes; however, its use in sub-Saharan African populations is not established. We assessed prevalence estimates and the diagnosis and detection of diabetes based on OGTT, FPG, and HbA1c in an urban black South African population.Research Design and MethodsWe conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey using multistage cluster sampling of adults aged ≥18 years in Durban (eThekwini municipality), KwaZulu-Natal. All participants had a 75-g OGTT and HbA1c measurements. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess the overall diagnostic accuracy of HbA1c, using OGTT as the reference, and to determine optimal HbA1c cut-offs.ResultsAmong 1190 participants (851 women, 92.6% response rate), the age-standardised prevalence of diabetes was 12.9% based on OGTT, 11.9% based on FPG, and 13.1% based on HbA1c. In participants without a previous history of diabetes (n = 1077), using OGTT as the reference, an HbA1c ≥48 mmol/mol (6.5%) detected diabetes with 70.3% sensitivity (95%CI 52.7–87.8) and 98.7% specificity (95%CI 97.9–99.4) (AUC 0.94 [95%CI 0.89–1.00]). Additional analyses suggested the optimal HbA1c cut-off for detection of diabetes in this population was 42 mmol/mol (6.0%) (sensitivity 89.2% [95%CI 78.6–99.8], specificity 92.0% [95%CI: 90.3–93.7]).ConclusionsIn an urban black South African population, we found a high prevalence of diabetes and provide the first evidence for the utility of HbA1c for the diagnosis and detection of diabetes in black Africans in sub-Saharan Africa.

Eastern Cape had the largest share of women in the total population in South Africa. In 2022, 52.7 percent of the people in the province were women. Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal followed closely, with a share of 52.5 and 52.1 percent, respectively. In absolute terms, Gauteng had the largest number of women residing there, at 8.1 million.

Abstract

The survey was undertaken in 2005 and conducted face-to-face interviews with a sample of 1 000 adults from Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg, where ninety percent of the country's Jewish population reside.

Geographic coverage

The survey covered selected Jewish households in Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg

Analysis unit

Households and individuals

Universe

The target population of the survey consists of Jewish South Africans.

Kind of data

Sample survey data

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

A single questionnaire was used for the study

As of 2024, the number of schools in South Africa amounted to more than 24,800. The majority of the schools were located within KwaZulu-Natal, reaching 6,030 in total. The Eastern Cape and Limpopo followed with 5,295 and 3,823 schools, respectively.

As of 2024, the total number of teaching staff in South Africa amounted to roughly 459,993. The largest number was in Gauteng, with close to 98,140 educators. KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape followed with around 96,020 and 61,670 teachers, respectively.